Editing Pilgrims' Way (section)

{{Short description|Historic walking route in England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{other uses}}

{{Infobox hiking trail
 |name=Pilgrims' Way
 |photo=File:Pilgrims' Way to the South of the White Horse Stone (I).jpg
 |caption=The Pilgrims' Way as it passes the [[White Horse Stone]], [[Kent]]
 |location=South Eastern [[England]], [[United Kingdom]]
 |length_km=192
 |trailheads=[[Winchester, Hampshire|Winchester]], [[Hampshire]]<br />Shrine of [[Thomas Becket]], [[Canterbury]], [[Kent]]
 |use=Hiking, cycling and byway; former [[pilgrim way]]
 |elev_change=
 |highest=
 |lowest=
 |difficulty=
 |season=All year
 |sights=
 |hazards=
}}
The '''Pilgrims' Way''' (also '''Pilgrim's Way''' or '''Pilgrims Way'''){{efn|All three usages are noted on Ordnance Survey maps}} is the historical route supposedly taken by [[pilgrim]]s from [[Winchester, Hampshire|Winchester]] in [[Hampshire]], [[England]], to the shrine of [[Thomas Becket]] at [[Canterbury]] in [[Kent]]. This name, of comparatively recent coinage, is applied to a pre-existing [[ancient trackway]] dated by archaeological finds to 600&ndash;450&nbsp;BC, but probably in existence since the [[Stone Age]].<ref name=Brayley>{{cite book|last=Brayley|first=Edward|authorlink=Edward Wedlake Brayley|title=A topographical history of Surrey|volume=4|year=1850|publisher=G Willis|location=London|page=218|oclc=4601837}}</ref><ref name=Margary>{{cite book
  | last =Margary
  | first =Ivan D
  | authorlink =Ivan Margary
  | title =Roman Ways in the Weald
  | publisher =J M Dent
  | orig-year =1948
  | year = 1965
  | edition= 3rd
  | location =London
  | pages = 260–263
  | url =
  | doi =
  | id =  
  | isbn =0-460-07742-2 }}</ref> The prehistoric route followed the "natural causeway" east to west on the southern slopes of the [[North Downs]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Fagg|first=C. C.|author2=Hutchings, G. E.  |others=Tansley, A. G|title=Great Britain: essays in regional geography |editor=Ogilvie, Alan Grant|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, England|year=1928|page=29|chapter=Prehistory|oclc=59447377}}</ref> 

The course was dictated by the natural geography: it took advantage of the contours, avoided the sticky clay of the land below but also the thinner, overlying "clay with flints" of the summits.<ref name=Wright>Wright, Christopher John (1971). ''A Guide to the Pilgrims' Way.'' Constable and Co, London. {{ISBN|0-09-456240-7}}</ref> In places a coexisting [[ridgeway (track)|ridgeway]] and terrace way can be identified; the route followed would have varied with the season, but it would not drop below the upper line of cultivation.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica (1998) ''Pilgrims' Way''.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Wooldridge|first1=Sidney|authorlink1=Sidney William Wooldridge|last2=Hutchings|first2=Geoffrey|title=London's Countryside : Geographical field work for students and teachers of geography|url=https://archive.org/details/londonscountrysi0000wool|url-access=registration|year=1957|publisher=Methuen|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/londonscountrysi0000wool/page/121 121]|oclc=788928682}}</ref> The trackway ran the entire length of the North Downs, leading to and from [[Folkestone]]: the pilgrims would have had to turn away from it, north along the valley of the  [[River Stour, Kent|Great Stour]] near [[Chilham]], to reach Canterbury.