The slope from the camps is extremely
steep, and in 1817, when Dr Young wrote his "History of Whitby," he tells
us that there were no traces of the road at that point. Going back to
1736, however, we find that Drake, in his "History of York" published in
that year, says, "At the foot of the hill began the road or causeway, very
plain"; he also tells us that he first heard of the road, with the camp
upon it, from Mr Thomas Robinson of Pickering--"a gentleman well versed in
this kind of learning." Drake, enthusiastically describing his examination
of the road, says, "I had not gone a hundred paces on it, but I met with a
_mile stone_ of the _grit kind_, a sort not known in this country. It was
placed in the midst of the causeway, but so miserably worn, either by
sheep or cattle rubbing against it, or the weather, that I missed of the
inscription, which, I own, I ran with great eagerness to find. The
causeway is just twelve foot broad, paved with a flint pebble [probably
very hard limestone], some of them very large, and in many places it is as
firm as it was the first day, a thing the more strange in that not only
the distance of time may be considered, but the total neglect of repairs
and the boggy rotten moors it goes over. In some places the _agger_ is
above three foot raised from the surface. The country people curse it
often for being almost wholly hid in the ling, it frequently overturns
their carts laden with turf as they happen to drive across it.
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