<< Our Photo Pages >> The Dongas - Ancient Trackway in England in Hampshire
Submitted by JimChampion on Sunday, 23 January 2005 Page Views: 12732
Multi-periodSite Name: The DongasCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 1.519 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Hampshire Type: Ancient Trackway
Nearest Town: Winchester
Map Ref: SU491276
Latitude: 51.045661N Longitude: 1.300972W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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The 'Dongas' trackways are a series of ancient parallel hollows on Twyford Down, near Winchester. The herding of many thousands of animals over many centuries caused these deep hollows, named after a technical term for eroded gullies. When wet, the chalk becomes very slippery to negotiate and it is thought that when one track became too difficult to negotiate it was abandoned in favour of a new route. The trackway was well-established when the Romans occupied the area, and they built a road alongside.
The building of the M3 motorway in the early 1990s severed the Dongas from the main body of St Catherine's Hill. A community of "travellers" living on Twyford Down near the Dongas tried to resist the engineering work, and were given the name 'The Dongas Tribe' by a local paper. The protestors were unsuccessful, and a standing stone has been erected next to the Dongas, overlooking the M3 cutting, inscribed with the names of those responsible for "ravaging" the land.
The depth of these gullies is still impressive, and their current grassy covering is grazed by sheep. The site is part of a public nature reserve managed by the Hampshire Wildlife Trust (also an SSSI) supports a diverse range of wildlife. It is worth visiting for the impressive views of the surrounding countryside (if you can ignore the motorway).
Point of information from wikipedia: The name Dongas comes from the Matabele word for "gully". Somehow this word got attached to these deep drovers tracks.
Access The site can be accessed from St Catherines Hill via a bridge over the motorway. From the St Catherines's Hill "park and ride" (just off Junction 10 of the M3) you can walk up a side road (Morestead Road) along the route of the trackways, and cross over the motorway using the bridge. It is also possible to park right next to the site where a minor road from Morestead (which runs parallel to the Roman Road) bends sharply to avoid the M3.
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