Link to online map: https://shorturl.at/OIdbo
The map dates from just under 200 years ago and although faint is mesmerizing. Half the roads have either disappeared whilst others have become more or less used due to change in the demography and land use.
Stoney Road would have been a stoned road whilst others around would have been muddy way fares. A defunct end to the Roman road that went to the Roman camp at Upper Forest. If you stop at the Gibraltar Lane end you see how the Treflach to Trefonen road that runs adjacent to Offa's Dyke is also straight which was the same Roman road.
Gibraltar Lane as you head for Big Bellan diverts into two at Pear Tree Cottage which became Forest Lane to the right which was also known as Treflach Wood and Gibraltar Lane continues to the left. Crossing the Wern-y-Weil Lane that runs left to Treflach Hall and right to Whitehaven is Savin's Tracks that heads for Dummy's Wood. They used to cross Treflach Farm when it was owned by Thomas Savin in the 1840s to get around his many business operations in the area. One track came out at Middle Crossing which was on the Coed-y-Go to Llynclys coal rail he built and the other came out at the gates near Sweeney Fen.
Whitehaven Lane, now closed (which can be seen if you google ‘The History of Treflach’) and the road from Wern-y-Weil to the top of Blodwel Bank is a new road constructed to bypass the toll house at the bottom at Blodwel Bank when the Turnpike Acts were brought in.
At Treflach Hall junction you have the Wern-y-Weil Lane heading for Whitehaven, the Back Lane heading for Sweeney and Morton and Jockey's Wood Lane heading for Oswestry. The Back Lane was the major route through the area until Savin built his coal tracks. It was closer to go to Morton Church which was built in 1685 (not Trefonen which was only built in 1821) via the Sweeney Mountain crossroads. Before you come to the crossroads there is a lane on the left to Cae Cerrig and Primrose Cottage which used to be called Scotland Rode that crossed the land which is today called Scotland. The terrain of the area must have given it a Scottish feel. It was joined by Wildings Lane that comes up by the Summerhouse on Sweeney Mountain. They both came out as Chapel House on the old bridle path.
From Treflach Hall junction heading for Oswestry is Jockey's Wood Lane which carried on to the Gronwen to the right. To the left the Oswestry Road was constructed as a relief road to the old Pentre Lane running behind Woodhill which comes out at the top of Pit Lane opposite the property today called Rowena. When Woodhill Park was constructed in 1792 the owners wanted less traffic passing so near the main house so the new road was developed.
Pit Lane got its name because of all the Trefonen pit ponies that grazed on the fields in the lane - of which there were many. With no rail links horse power was the only means to transport everything produced in the area be it coal or bricks as well as goods and services for a population far greater than todays.
We now live in a world with postcodes and What3Words to find locations, but these old road names carry the history of our interaction with the landscape over centuries. Over Treflach Hall long forgotten unmarked tracks are demarcated by lines of roman coins unearthed by metal detectorists. Strange as it may seem medieval paths follow different routes across the land while todays public footpaths are different again!