0:00:02 > 0:00:04That's the M6.
0:00:04 > 0:00:08Every day, 60,000 cars tear up and down
0:00:08 > 0:00:13this tarmac strip, and they all know exactly where they're going.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17That's because their road is on the map.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22But imagine a time when there weren't many roads
0:00:22 > 0:00:25and absolutely no road maps.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28That's what it was like in the mid-1600s.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30Then, in 1675,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33along came John Ogilby's Britannia -
0:00:33 > 0:00:38100 maps describing over 7,000 miles of roads.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42For the first time, you could see the routes between places.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45These maps could take you anywhere!
0:00:51 > 0:00:54The question is - can they still do it today?
0:00:54 > 0:00:59I'm going to put Ogilby's atlas to the ultimate road test.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Can I cross the treacherous Pennines from York to Lancaster
0:01:03 > 0:01:07using only Ogilby's 17th-century road map?
0:01:38 > 0:01:40John Ogilby's Britannia
0:01:40 > 0:01:44was the first major breakthrough in map-making since Tudor times.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47These maps were revolutionary.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51They emphasised routes, not places.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54They looked different. They're all presented in strip form
0:01:54 > 0:01:59and they show the exact route of the road and only essential landmarks.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Any extraneous detail is cut out,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06anything that won't help you find your way.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14York is the starting point for my journey. In the 17th century,
0:02:14 > 0:02:19it was a much-favoured city amongst the leisured classes.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24But journeys to and from York were dogged by poor roads and bad maps.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Ogilby's brand-new road atlas revolutionised travel.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35York has four historic gates,
0:02:35 > 0:02:39and this is the one that Ogilby directed travellers to
0:02:39 > 0:02:42when they were bound for Lancaster.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45From here on, it was the perils of the open road.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57So far, so good.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02Ogilby's map exactly matches the route of the modern A59.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04The place names are the same.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Poppleton, Knapton... I'm on the right track.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Ogilby was a child of the Restoration.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18He was a peddler and a dancing teacher before becoming a map-maker
0:03:18 > 0:03:20at the astonishing age of 70.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23He had a shrewd business mind
0:03:23 > 0:03:26and excellent contacts in court circles
0:03:26 > 0:03:29and he knew there was money to be made
0:03:29 > 0:03:32from a road atlas of Britain.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34So, how did he set about it?
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Ogilby was no cartographer, so he hired in the expertise
0:03:38 > 0:03:40he didn't have himself.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42He put together teams of surveyors
0:03:42 > 0:03:46and, in 1672, he sent them off to start measuring roads.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51His only instruction - the surveys had to be cheap and accurate.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56I'm going to do some surveying of my own, using Ogilby's methods.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00Because I'm not an expert on historical surveying,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02I've called on cartographer Chris Beacock.
0:04:02 > 0:04:08- Chris, what is this beautifully constructed machine called?- Well,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11this is known as a dimensurator or way-wiser.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15If you help me lift it up... As the wheel turns...
0:04:15 > 0:04:18- The needle moves.- The needle moves.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21On the dial, you have measurements
0:04:21 > 0:04:25in chains and poles and yards and miles and furlongs.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27And...a furlong is how long?
0:04:27 > 0:04:30There's eight furlongs to a mile.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33200 yards in a furlong.
0:04:33 > 0:04:355½ yards in a pole.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39- Right!- So...- Not as easy as metric.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Metric is wonderful compared to this method of measuring, yes.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48So if I want to survey this bit of road,
0:04:48 > 0:04:53from the white gate here down to the wooden gate on that corner,
0:04:53 > 0:04:58- the first thing I have to do is get the direction...- Yeah.- And it's...
0:04:58 > 0:05:0187 degrees.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Which of us is going to be the dimensurator pusher...?
0:05:04 > 0:05:08I see you're itching to get your hands on it. Before you set off,
0:05:08 > 0:05:12we'll set it back to zero so we know where you're starting.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14OK.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17So it's ready to roll.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Right, this is going to be great fun.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24I've always wanted to take a dimensurator for a walk.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26Well...
0:05:26 > 0:05:29the first thing that strikes me
0:05:29 > 0:05:31is that this could get a bit tedious.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38You've got to imagine pushing this calibrated wheelbarrow
0:05:38 > 0:05:41over thousands of miles.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46One of Ogilby's surveyors complained that he was surveying in winter,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50pushing this thing through frozen mud and snow and sleet.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Chris has already measured the distance,
0:05:54 > 0:05:59so we'll see how good this dimensurator really is.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03How far is it, Nick?
0:06:05 > 0:06:08132 yards.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12That's quite extraordinary.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14This machine is so precise.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18It's like Ogilby's atlas - simple and accurate.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24On a good day, Ogilby's team could manage up to 12 miles
0:06:24 > 0:06:26using this process.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31I've measured the better part of a mile now, and it's taken me an hour,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33and the light's fading.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36Must have been a slow business in the 1670s.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56One of the most important breakthroughs Ogilby made
0:06:56 > 0:07:00was in showing every single map at the same scale
0:07:00 > 0:07:03of one inch to a mile. It had never been done before.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07It looks like a scroll and it unravels in front of you.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10You read it from the bottom upwards
0:07:10 > 0:07:14and each strip represents the next section of road you'll travel along.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Each of the strips on the map
0:07:16 > 0:07:20has a compass rose to show you which way magnetic north is
0:07:20 > 0:07:24and there are two types of road marked - closed roads,
0:07:24 > 0:07:29which have a solid line, and open roads, which have a dotted line.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34On an open road, if you get bogged down in deep mud or a wagon has broken down in front of you,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38you can take to the open country to get around that obstacle.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42You get a very frequent marking of moors on this map.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47Moors are like mine fields - very dangerous places back then - so you need to know where they are.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52When you get to a hill, you know whether you're going up or down,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55because if it's a rising gradient, the mountain's the right way up,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59and if you're going downhill, there's an upside-down mountain.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05Also, every single map has the most gorgeous cartouche
0:08:05 > 0:08:09at the top of it. It's an elaborate affair, beautifully coloured.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11In it is the name of the map-maker -
0:08:11 > 0:08:15John Ogilby, his Majesty's Cosmographer.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19It's an impressive list,
0:08:19 > 0:08:23but I want to see whether these features are there on the ground.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28One thing's for sure - there's some pretty tough country up ahead.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Ogilby's team took three years to complete their survey.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41I've got four days to do my route.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44The dimensurator's definitely out,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47but for measuring a road, a bicycle will do just as well.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09Ogilby's route often differs from the A59.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14But, glad as I am to get off that hideous highway,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18it's not always easy to find where the old road went.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24This is really confusing.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28I can see where Ogilby's supposed to go - over Keskin Moor -
0:09:28 > 0:09:31but where is it?
0:09:31 > 0:09:36It must be running parallel with the modern road and I'd guess higher up.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45This is incredibly exciting.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49I'm certain that this is the road that Ogilby marked on his map,
0:09:49 > 0:09:51crossing Keskin Moor.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55It bears all the hallmarks of a 17th-century road.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58It's as if time has stood still since 1675.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02The road follows the ridge line up to the horizon.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05On each side of the road - very characteristic of an old road -
0:10:05 > 0:10:10you can see the ditches that were cut to drain the road in wet weather.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13I'm going to try and negotiate this 17th-century swamp
0:10:13 > 0:10:16and then pedal across the moor...
0:10:18 > 0:10:22..which Ogilby says will last for two-and-a-half miles.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Two-and-a-half miles of 17th-century morass.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49Incredible to think that this was the main road between York and Lancaster.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51In Ogilby's day,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55this road would have been in far worse condition than it is now.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57If you were out here in 1675,
0:10:57 > 0:11:02you'd be exposed in the winter to rain, wind, snow and sleet.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06If you got stuck here at night, you'd be dead from hypothermia by morning.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Well, I've reached the end of the old route over the moor,
0:11:30 > 0:11:34but now Ogilby's road joins the A59 again.
0:11:34 > 0:11:40This is Ogilby's route heading off into the rain and the traffic. It looks a complete nightmare.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44All of which makes me wonder, why bother?
0:11:45 > 0:11:50So, who would have been on this road 300 years ago?
0:11:50 > 0:11:52Ogilby's clients, if you like.
0:11:52 > 0:11:58The roads mapped by Ogilby were the postal routes used by riders carrying the king's mail.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01And they were used by merchants and monks,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04all probably travelling on foot or by horse.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10And then there would have been a new breed of traveller - the tourist.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16Each of Ogilby's routes was accompanied by a commentary
0:12:16 > 0:12:22giving useful information for travellers on market days, local customs and good inns to stay in.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24The town I'm in now, Skipton,
0:12:24 > 0:12:29apparently was well built, it had a good market and good accommodation.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35But prior to Ogilby, how did these people find their way around?
0:12:35 > 0:12:39Where did they stay? I'm here to meet Donald Hodson,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42a native of the Yorkshire-Lancashire borders
0:12:42 > 0:12:46and a man who's given a large part of his life to studying Ogilby
0:12:46 > 0:12:49and road travel in the 17th century.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53Providing you knew where your destination was,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57all you would have had to do was go to the local inn
0:12:57 > 0:12:59and say to someone,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03"This is where I want to go. What's the first day's journey?"
0:13:03 > 0:13:07And they would give you a list of places and you might well join them
0:13:07 > 0:13:11- on the journey.- How many people travelled by road then?
0:13:11 > 0:13:14Far more than we would imagine.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19Um, in any decent-sized town...
0:13:19 > 0:13:24there would be 12-15...inns,
0:13:24 > 0:13:26each of which
0:13:26 > 0:13:30could take 300 people and their horses.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35Now...clearly, there must have been thousands of people on the road.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38It wouldn't have been difficult to get information.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Is it fair to say that Ogilby...
0:13:41 > 0:13:45turned a written list of places into a map,
0:13:45 > 0:13:50with the same places but just linked by this slender thread of road?
0:13:50 > 0:13:51Yes, absolutely.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54He originally planned
0:13:54 > 0:13:56to survey 40,000 miles,
0:13:56 > 0:14:01and he claims in the introduction to Britannia to have...
0:14:01 > 0:14:05surveyed near two thirds,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08which I take to be something like 26,000 miles.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11But he ran out of money,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15so he decides that he'll cut it from 200 roads to 100
0:14:15 > 0:14:18and he obviously...
0:14:18 > 0:14:23decided this would be a good way to recoup at least some of the money.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27- Little knowing it would change the face of Britain.- Suddenly,
0:14:27 > 0:14:32instead of just having one route, you had 100.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44Outside Skipton
0:14:44 > 0:14:47is Eshton Crag Hill,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49this monster.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54It's the only hill named on Ogilby's map,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58and yet the road doesn't go over it. So why mention it?
0:14:58 > 0:15:02What makes Eshton Crag Hill so important to Ogilby?
0:15:02 > 0:15:06I've just seen the most incredible sight.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10The valley below me is absolutely full of water. It's flooded.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14It's as if the waters of the Atlantic have flooded half of Yorkshire.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17You couldn't get through there, even swimming.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20I think this is a dry-level route
0:15:20 > 0:15:22and Ogilby put this hill on the map
0:15:22 > 0:15:26partly because he realised that when the valley flooded down there,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29you had to have an alternative route.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33The course of 17th-century roads was often dictated by water.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38Floods could block valleys, rains could turn tracks into quagmires,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41so travellers would always be seeking the higher ground.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Not that they'd find the going very easy up here!
0:15:48 > 0:15:52Eshton Crag Hill was on the frontier. On one side, down there,
0:15:52 > 0:15:56settled communities in the gentle lowland valleys of Lancashire.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58On the other side,
0:15:58 > 0:16:03up there, the desolate, high limestone plateaus of Yorkshire.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05A wilderness!
0:16:13 > 0:16:17So, another day, another rain-swept hilltop.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Still another 40 miles to go
0:16:20 > 0:16:24and I don't expect any mercy from the elements.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Fantastic change this morning!
0:16:40 > 0:16:44There's a gale blowing and it's driven out all that rain.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48Today I should make much better progress -
0:16:48 > 0:16:50as long as I keep to the map.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54A strip map might be easy to read
0:16:54 > 0:16:58and reassuring to travellers who have never used a map before,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01It just shows the one road you're trying to follow.
0:17:01 > 0:17:07If you leave that road, you're absolutely lost. You've stepped off the edge of the known world.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13The extraordinary thing is that roads didn't appear on maps
0:17:13 > 0:17:17until the 1590s, and even the word "road" was rare.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22It occurs once in the King James Bible and a few times in Shakespeare.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26People talked about "lanes" and "ways".
0:17:26 > 0:17:29"Road" comes from "ride",
0:17:29 > 0:17:32a route on which people rode horses.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34Ogilby helped popularise the word
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and making roads the central feature of his atlas
0:17:37 > 0:17:40was his revolutionary selling point.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Not sure when I'll reach Lancaster.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51It's spine-tingling to experience this road
0:17:51 > 0:17:55as 17th-century travellers did, ruts and puddles and all.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21According to the mileometer,
0:18:21 > 0:18:23I've now done 76 miles,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25so we're onto the last leg.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27I'm heading to Tateham,
0:18:27 > 0:18:32where there should be a bridge over the river, which might just be here,
0:18:32 > 0:18:34if this inn is from Ogilby's time.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43Ah! 1744.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46That's 70 years after Ogilby's Britannia was published.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Now that's interesting. 1642.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59This building was standing before Britannia was published.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02It was here when the survey was made.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05This is almost certainly the original Bridge Inn.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Well, that's the inn,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13but where's the bridge and, more to the point, where's the river?
0:19:13 > 0:19:19Something strange has happened round here. It's very difficult to lose a river in a small valley like this.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24And they wouldn't have built the inn anywhere but right beside the bridge.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26I can hear water over here.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34Well, it's a dribble. It doesn't justify a bridge.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38That stream must link to a river somewhere,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42but there's nothing on the ground that tallies with Ogilby.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44All I can do is follow this road
0:19:44 > 0:19:48and hope that it's not too far off the old route.
0:19:51 > 0:19:52The plot thickens.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Actually, this is really interesting.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Down there in the field, you can see the course of an old river,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04and beside it, the old river bank. And over here...
0:20:04 > 0:20:07a long way from the Bridge Inn,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09is a bridge.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13And underneath the bridge...
0:20:15 > 0:20:18..the long-lost river.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22But at some point, that river has moved from over there
0:20:22 > 0:20:25to down here. Very puzzling.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28So, who exactly did move the river
0:20:28 > 0:20:31and, presumably, the old bridge?
0:20:31 > 0:20:34And what's happened to Ogilby's road?
0:20:36 > 0:20:41Someone who knows a great deal about the Ogilby road is Michael Goth.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43He was brought up near here
0:20:43 > 0:20:47and his father was a gamekeeper on a local estate.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51I passed this inn earlier when I was looking for the bridge.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Until I can find the bridge,
0:20:54 > 0:20:57I can't find the 17th-century road.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00It's over the bridge on that picture.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03- This picture?- Yes.- Who's this by?
0:21:03 > 0:21:05It's by Turner.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08This is a Turner watercolour - or a reproduction, clearly...
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Is that Hornby Castle?
0:21:11 > 0:21:14That's Tateham Church. And there...
0:21:14 > 0:21:16is the stone bridge.
0:21:16 > 0:21:21Now, this bridge has moved, hasn't it? It's not there at all now.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Where's the road gone?
0:21:23 > 0:21:26It moved in the advent of the railway, in the early 1840s.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30They brought the railway through here and the river was in the way,
0:21:30 > 0:21:34so they shifted the river over to one side
0:21:34 > 0:21:36and they built a new bridge -
0:21:36 > 0:21:40it came down here and covered both the bridge and the railway.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42Now, I found the new bridge,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45- so where did the road go?- Ah.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Here is the Tateham Bridge Inn.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50Now then, in the 1840s...
0:21:50 > 0:21:55a railway came down here, down the vale...
0:21:55 > 0:21:59and of course the old stone bridge was in the way, so it had to go.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01And so did the river.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05So they diverted the river, roughly across here...
0:22:05 > 0:22:08- So Ogilby's road is underwater?- Yes.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11No wonder I couldn't find it!
0:22:12 > 0:22:16- You've solved a very knotty problem for me.- Ah, well.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19All roads lead to Rome, but this one doesn't.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25So, with the news that Ogilby's road got submerged in Victorian times,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29the question is - can I rejoin it somewhere in the morning?
0:22:36 > 0:22:39I'm running out of time.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Ogilby's map shows Tateham Church very clearly,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45so I'm hoping I can find Ogilby's road again up there.
0:22:52 > 0:22:57Now, according to Ogilby, the next village on his route from Tateham
0:22:57 > 0:23:01is Hornby. On the way, his road passes through this feature here,
0:23:01 > 0:23:03Lord Marley's Park.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08Now, Ogilby's marked his road entering Lord Marley's Park
0:23:08 > 0:23:12at a point due south of Tateham Church, where I'm now perched.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15I've taken a bearing from the tower
0:23:15 > 0:23:17and it points over there,
0:23:17 > 0:23:21into the flooded valley where the river's running.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Now, I think that the road came along below the church,
0:23:25 > 0:23:30then cut up into those trees which are probably the old site of Lord Marley's Park.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33The road wouldn't run through that valley - too boggy.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37So the road's over there in those trees somewhere. The next thing to do
0:23:37 > 0:23:41is get among those trees and look for traces of Ogilby's road.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55I'm on a track at the edge of the wood
0:23:55 > 0:24:02and I've got two ways of testing whether this is the 17th-century road through Lord Marley's Park.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05The first thing I'll do is set my mileometer to zero,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08because I know from Ogilby's map
0:24:08 > 0:24:12that the road through Lord Marley's Park ran for one mile two furlongs -
0:24:12 > 0:24:15about one-and-a-quarter miles.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19The other thing I can do is look very carefully
0:24:19 > 0:24:21as I pedal through the trees
0:24:21 > 0:24:23for signs of a carriageway.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28You can see the track has been terraced out of a slope.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Now, it's true that might have been done by a bulldozer recently,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36so I need to find proof that it's Ogilby's road.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39What I'm looking for
0:24:39 > 0:24:45are large stones at the road side to stop it sliding away in the rain and drainage channels -
0:24:45 > 0:24:48any traces of substantial road construction.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57I didn't know exactly what I'd find when I came into this wood,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01but I've found the best kind of evidence I could have hoped for.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Down here is a moss-covered wall
0:25:04 > 0:25:08that looks suspiciously like a 17th-century water culvert.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23There's no doubt about it.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28This wall here is not just a retaining wall for the old road,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32but it's also a culvert, directing water from higher up on the moor
0:25:32 > 0:25:37underground, so as the water pours down, it doesn't wash the road away.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42And, actually, it's curving round there,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46so up there may be a section of the original road as well.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53It's not just a water culvert.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Underneath all of this moss, there's completely intact stone walling
0:25:57 > 0:26:00of a 17th-century embankment.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03The road crossed the gill and it climbed steadily up here
0:26:03 > 0:26:08towards what looks like the apex of a very tight turn, climbing steadily...
0:26:08 > 0:26:10There's a huge ravine on that side.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13And it comes round the corner.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Here's the edge of the corner. And then it climbs up there.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19You have to imagine,
0:26:19 > 0:26:23in 1675, columns of pack horses tethered end on end,
0:26:23 > 0:26:2730 or 40 at a time, crawling through this forest
0:26:27 > 0:26:29around this very tight bend.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33You couldn't have managed to get a wheeled vehicle around this bend.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35One wheel over the edge,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39straight down into the ravine. Absolutely lethal.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41No wonder this road was abandoned.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43I'm nearly at the end of the track,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46and I'll then check the mileometer
0:26:46 > 0:26:49and confirm what I think I know.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Well, there's Hornby Castle.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55I've come out of the wood.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57The mileometer reads...
0:26:57 > 0:26:59just over one mile.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03Ogilby reckoned it was one mile two furlongs - incredibly similar.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05That man was clever, wasn't he?
0:27:05 > 0:27:09This must be, then, the high road to Lancaster.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22The amazing thing, I suppose,
0:27:22 > 0:27:24is that so much of the road survives,
0:27:24 > 0:27:28even after 300 years of changing landscape.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Well, Ogilby has led me safely over the Pennines.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35His atlas really works.
0:27:35 > 0:27:41This has been a much more demanding journey than I ever anticipated,
0:27:41 > 0:27:46but, believe it or not, even today you can enter Lancaster using Ogilby's map.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52By the time Britannia was ready for printing in the autumn of 1675,
0:27:52 > 0:27:54Ogilby was dying.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Right at the very end of his long, eventful life,
0:27:57 > 0:28:01this ingenious pioneer lurched onto the Restoration stage
0:28:01 > 0:28:05for the final time and pulled off his most magnificent performance.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11Britannia was accurate, elegant and gorgeously presented.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14It celebrated roads for the first time
0:28:14 > 0:28:17and opened the door to a new generation of travellers.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27Subtitles by Suzanne Macdonald BBC Broadcast 2004
0:28:27 > 0:28:30E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk