Ben’s Causeway

Ben’s Causeway the West End is not a name most people would recognise or associate with industry. York Lane  is still used on the modern maps and most people would assume this small, but steep hill was part of Bell Road/Burges Combe  that leads to Coles farm. There used to be quarry in the rough ground that is on the left of this picture which may have been used by a lime-kiln in Prestons Wood.

Only the most observant person would notice this gap in the wall which is all that remains of two cottages that were shown in the 1794 map and were still standing in 1839. They may have been occupied by the quarrymen or the farm workers who were employed in  Rookery Farm which is behind this site but hidden from view by trees.

The cottages can be seen at the top of this map and the road by the side is just about visible but is blocked off and overgrown. The 1794 map suggests that the triangular batch was pasture or arable rather than the woodland it is today. One of the cottages was occupied by Gabriel Church, the other by William Pain (Payne?) in 1840.

It is not known who the Ben was who gave the road its name. What is equally obscure is the source of the name of Clay lane that is shown in the picture on the right. It is on the left of the 1794 map. One possibility is that the soil is heavy red clay in the area.

Bens Causway is not mentioned in the 18th century churchwarden accounts or poor book but other records show it was Waldegrave land