2008

TQ1850 : Boxhill Road at Boxhurst

taken 16 years ago, near to Dorking, Surrey, England

Boxhill Road at Boxhurst
Boxhill Road at Boxhurst
This is the unsurfaced continuation of Boxhill Road, behind Boxhurst, as it continues up the side of the scarp slope to Box Hill, to emerge in the car park of the Smith & Western restaurant. The road is severely eroded here, but the track, quite deeply incised into the hillside, is perfectly passable on foot or horseback.
Boxhill Road :: TQ1851

Boxhill Road is now known as the public road between Headley Common Road near Pebble Coombe and Box Hill Village, the continuation of which, via Zig Zag Road past Box Hill viewpoint and down to Mickleham near Burford Bridge, is a private road owned by the National Trust. However, Boxhill Road continues along two separate limbs, towards Mickleham and to Boxhill Bridge. Both limbs remain public roads, but neither is tarred, and one is currently impassable in part.

The northern limb lies to the north of Box Hill viewpoint, but is currently obstructed by vegetation over a short stretch, and by a large tree trunk. It crosses Zig Zag Road at the highest of the three hairpin bends (this one a little below the visitor centre), and (now freely passable) continues down the coombe to rejoin Zig Zag Road at the lowest of the three hairpin bends (the last part of Zig Zag Road, from the lowest hairpin bend to the junction with Old London Road, is therefore a public road). It seems likely that the old road went out of regular use by carriages in the late nineteenth century after Zig Zag Road had been thrown open to public use by the estate, for the private road offered a better surface and a gentler gradient for horse drawn traffic.

The other limb of Boxhill Road descended from the western end of the village, through what is now the car park of the Smith & Western restaurant, round the back of Boxhurst, to become established as a tarred road below Boxhurst down to Boxhill Bridge, and over the River Mole to join what is now the Old Coach Road across Betchworth Park to Buckland (the present junction with Reigate Road east to Reigate was constructed in the late 1920s).


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Hugh Craddock and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Primary Subject: Road Category: Unmetalled road other tags: Old Road Unsealed Public Road Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Boxhill Road [18] · Boxhurst [12] Other Photos: · Carriage drive to Oakwood House ·
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TQ1850, 133 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Hugh Craddock   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 22 June, 2008   (more nearby)
Submitted
Sunday, 22 June, 2008
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TQ 1815 5098 [10m precision]
WGS84: 51:14.7460N 0:18.5186W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TQ 1817 5096
View Direction
Northwest (about 315 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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