Drovers’ roads or droveways date back to medieval times. They are routes used for ‘driving’ livestock on foot from one place to another, so the animals can graze.
Drift Lane on the Eastern side of Chidham and Hambrook Parish was such a droveway. It was used to drive cattle and sheep from the Chidham peninsula to Hambrook Common, which in the 1800s stretched all the way to Funtington, or on to market in Chichester. The droveway was also likely used for livestock movement between summer and winter from the South Downs to other fields nearer the warmer coast.
Did you know?
Drovers often used dogs such as collies to help control their livestock. The droving dogs would sometimes be sent home alone after a drove, retracing their outward route and being fed at inns or farms the drove had stayed at. The drover would then pay for the dog’s food on his next journey!
Chichester was a key livestock centre from medieval times, with regular sales held in the streets at Chichester Cross.
In England many original drovers’ roads have now become single carriageway local and residential roads, but the road shape can give an indication of its original use. Droving roads are often straight and can have unusually wide verges and ditches, or have trees planted on high banked ridges on either side of the road to prevent the livestock from straying into fields.
Another characteristic feature of driving roads is an occasional sharp turn, as seen on Drift Lane at its north end, designed to provide a corner for cover for animals and men in bad weather such as high winds, rain or snow.
In the early 1900s there were orchards on much of the East side of Drift Lane growing apples for market and traditional Sussex cider. The orchard north of the railway was managed by a veteran of WW1 who had suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. It can still be seen there today at local building contractor Nutbourne Construction.
Did you know?
By the 1960s many of the apple orchards on Drift Lane had gone and land use changed to poultry houses and plant nurseries, soon followed by new homes being built along the southern part of Drift Lane.
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Brighton opened to Portsmouth in 1847, creating a much easier way to transport livestock and bringing a slow end to local droving.
In 1872 Chichester Cattle Market opened near Eastgate Square and livestock market day sales grew rapidly in importance. By 1900 Chichester livestock market was described as ‘the largest in the south of England’.
Drift Lane even had its own railway halt for livestock transport to Chichester market, as seen on this map from 1969.
However, in the 1970s and 1980s, due to the rapid growth of supermarkets and then debate about the future of the Chichester livestock market site, the livestock market went into a trade decline and finally closed in October 1990.
The Bosham Inn, near the South end of Drift Lane, is a Sussex country pub oozing rural charm and rustic character. Marked on a map of 1875 as Hamstead House, it was also a former vicarage for the parish, and then a hotel and Victorian dining house. Grade II listed, the Bosham Inn is owned by Vintage Inns and has been painstakingly restored.
The Inn has a large car park, large beer garden, Wi-Fi and disabled facilities. Its picturesque surroundings provide the perfect backdrop for savouring hearty seasonal pub-food and a pint of carefully nurtured cask ale, a glass of fine wine or a G&T.
- Book a table online at the Bosham Inn and enjoy quality time with friends and family – click here