The Ridgeway

A common name across the country, it is generally found applied to prominent, high, ancient trackways that have been adapted over the years as modern thoroughfares. In the Greater London area there are 27 Ridgeways listed, two more than there are Broadways but some way behind “The Drive” of which there are 74 examples.

The Ridgeway in Plympton really came into its own following the construction of a new turnpike road along it in the eighteenth century. Prior to the opening of the Great West Road in 1758, the principal route from London to Plymouth, had been via Tavistock and Okehampton.

The new road also effectively by-passed Plympton St. Maurice, particularly after the “institution of the mailcoach”, in 1784 - the post now “goes through the Ridgeway and the postmaster waits at the George Inn to take the bag” (Universal British Directory 1798).