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Bernard, My sincere condolences upon the loss of your mother. Kindest regards, Trevor ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bernard Moore" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 10:44 PM Subject: Re: More pack animals! > Dear Roger, > > I have been watching this subject for some while, and, indeed, have been > weighing up the 'evidence' one way and another. > > This matter is unfortunately somewhat fraught with varied opinions from > different professional opinion, and, to date - it seems - never the twain > shall meet. I consider this a pity, since, with proper open and > considered > debate, the matter will not be resolved. My opinion is that there are > factors > to be considered on both sides... oh how this sounds like sitting on the > fence... not so. > > From what I have read recently ( and I am not at this stage going to quote > same, simply for the reason that my Mother died yesterday and am not up to > fine detail just at the moment), that there is every reason to believe > that > raised 'was' were erected for the passage of packhorse routes. They were > indeed many and in varied construction. > > Old passage routes (W.Country particularly), were historically many and > varied, and followed all sorts of boundaries. They indeed criss-crossed > all > over the place, simply due to whatever Port, destination or market they > had > to reach... furthermore, and to complicate matters further, there were > other > older routes that were partially or directly followed that were non > mining > related, but, in some way shape or form became incorporated. This leads > to > the question of what was where first... and there were many, BUT, the > packhorse routes needed a sounder construction... however... so did the > main > footway routes... of which there were many. Do not forget we are not > talking > about wagon or coach ways, these either followed entirely new routes due > to > terrain, or partially followed the old routes where they were able. > > Ok, this does not answer the original question of these so called > boundaries - or whatever one may call them. Raised 'walls' are common in > some areas > for the use of packhorses. I have seen them myself. Such elevated > constructions can easily be mistaken for simple boundaries. Moorland > terrain makes > this judgement even more difficult, but as far the West country is > concerned, don't be blinkered into thinking that such constructions are > only to be > found there. > > What I have said might stimulate conversation I hope. I am looking for > something to take my mind off things, and such a seemingly volatile > subject > might just be the thing!!! > > Regards, Bernard > >