AN HISTORIAN will shine a line on one of the most important roads in British history – the A3 – during the spring meeting of the Buriton Village Association.
The road between London and the country’s greatest naval dockyard at Portsmouth has been travelled for centuries by powerful people and ordinary wayfarers.
Responsibility for maintaining the road was originally with local parishes, which left small villages like Buriton with large bills for looking after their stretch of it.
During her research into the history of the road, Jennifer Goldsmith has unearthed some of the significant events, places and people which has made it such an important thoroughfare.
At times journeys along it were far from easy, she said.
She added: “There was the danger of crime and road accidents, quite apart from the likelihood of getting a severe cold if you were sitting on the outside of a stagecoach – many people actually wrote their will before setting off.”
Jennifer will give a free talk about her findings in Buriton Village Hall at 7.30pm on Wednesday, March 29. All welcome, and there will be a retiring collection