In prehistoric times Devonshire was crossed by a network of trackways, some of which are to-day broad and well-kept high roads. Others form those proverbially narrow, awkward, and frequently muddy Devonshire lanes which are so characteristic of the county, having become worn in the lapse of ages so deep below the level of the adjacent country, owing partly to the softness of the ground, and partly to the heavy rainfall, that their high banks, although often very beautiful, completely shut out the view. Others, again, that once served merely to connect one hill-fort with another, have fallen out of use, and are now hardly to be traced.

These roads, probably begun in the Neolithic Period as footpaths, may have been made into tracks for packhorses in the Bronze Age, and more or less adapted for wheeled traffic by the prehistoric users of iron. Packhorses, however, usually or frequently in teams of six, were in common use in the county until the middle of the eighteenth century; and although good roads were made across Dartmoor in 1792 there were parts of that wild district where, before the year 1831, wheeled vehicles were unknown. At the present time the total length of all the roads in Devonshire is only exceeded in the county of Yorkshire.

It is generally believed that no Devonshire road was wholly constructed by the Romans, who probably reached the district by the already existing British coast-road from Dorchester. There are some, however, who think that the Fosse Way joined this road and passed through Exeter, going as far as the river Teign. The Romans made no road beyond this point, at any rate; and here, not far from Newton Abbot, they built over the river a bridge of freestone, on whose foundations the modern structure—the third since then—now rests.

Some ancient roads have been abandoned because of their steepness, or because they have been superseded by more convenient ways. Such, for example, are the lane from Crockam Bridge over the Teign to Trusham, and the Lichway (i.e. the way of the corpse) along which, before 1260, the dead were carried for burial into Lydford, crossing the river over Willsworthy Steps, a series of eighteen stepping-stones. One of the most remarkable of these old roads was the great central trackway on Dartmoor, leading from Chagford to Tavistock, 10 feet wide, 2 ½ feet deep, and made of rough stones with smaller stones above. Although much of it has been destroyed for the sake of its materials, about 18 miles of it still remain. It was during the seventeenth century that the "Moor-stones"—upright monoliths of granite—were set up to serve as guide-posts for wayfarers during the mists that so often cover the moor. One of the most important highways in Devonshire is the great trunk road from London, which enters the county with the Great Western Railway and accompanies it to Exeter, thence making straight for Plymouth, and passing on into Cornwall.

In common with other English counties Devonshire possesses a number of hamlets whose names end in "ford," a syllable which, in words of Saxon origin, means that an old road there passed through the shallows of a stream or river. Such, to give a few familiar instances, are Chagford, Lydford, and Bideford.

Devonshire canals are short and unimportant. The hilly country is not adapted for them; and such traffic as some of them once enjoyed has been absorbed by the railways. There is, however, a good deal of traffic on the Exeter Canal—constructed in 1566, and therefore one of the oldest ship canals in England and the first lock-canal in the kingdom—but it is worked at a loss. Most of the Bude Canal has been abandoned, and only two miles of it are now in use. The Grand Western Canal, running ten-and-a-half miles eastward from Tiverton, nearly to the Somerset border—all that was ever made of a waterway intended to reach Taunton—the Stover Canal, two miles in length, and the Hackney Canal, only half-a-mile long, both connected with the river Teign, are all under the control of the Great Western Railway. No Devonshire river is now of much value as a waterway. There is some traffic on some of the estuaries, especially the Teign; and the Tamar is navigable to Gunnislake, a distance of twenty miles.

There are in our county some very old lines of stone-tramway for horse-traction; from Tavistock to Princetown, for example, and from the Heytor quarries to the head of the Stover Canal, but they are no longer in use. Down the former was brought granite to build London Bridge.

The railway from London to Bristol was opened by the Great Western Company in 1841, was continued to Exeter by the Bristol and Exeter Company in 1844, and to Plymouth by the South Devon Company in 1846. Atmospheric pressure was tried for a time between Exeter and Newton Abbot, but it was a failure, and was soon superseded by steam-traction.

Brunel's railways were made on the broad-gauge system with seven feet between the rails, in order to give stability to the trains and to allow of a high rate of speed; and the entire line from London to Plymouth was broad gauge. Most other companies, however, adopted the narrow gauge, in which there is only four feet eight-and-a-half inches between the rails; and owing mainly to the inconvenience of not being able to interchange rolling-stock with other lines, the Great Western Railway Company have converted their whole system to narrow gauge.

Teignmouth: the Coast Line and Sea-wall

The Devonshire railways are now owned by two companies only, the Great Western and the London and South Western. The latter, which enters the county near Axminster, runs to Plymouth, especially serving the south coast to the east of Exmouth, with important branches to Barnstaple and Ilfracombe and to Bude, and with a continuation into Cornwall. The Great Western Railway enters Devonshire at two points; near Burlescombe, running thence to Plymouth and into Cornwall, and near Venn Cross, for Barnstaple. The Cornish Riviera Express from Paddington, which slips a coach at Reading, and, passing south of Bristol, slips another at Exeter, performs the journey of 225 miles to Plymouth—the longest non-stop run of any train in England—in 7 minutes over 4 hours, which is an average speed of 55 miles an hour.

There are some famous bridges on the Devonshire roads and railways, of which the most remarkable are the Saltash Viaduct, 2240 feet long and 102 feet above high-water mark, built by Brunel across the Tamar; the old stone bridge of 16 arches over the Taw at Barnstaple, originally built in the thirteenth century, but since much altered and widened; the fifteenth century stone bridge of 24 arches over the Torridge at Bideford, also much changed from the days when it was only wide enough for a pack-horse, but always a valuable source of revenue to the town from the money that has, at various times, been left for its maintenance, and has been used to promote education, municipal improvements, charity and other objects; and the wooden bridge over the Teign at Teignmouth, one of the longest of its kind in England. Very different in character are the Lydford Bridge, whose single arch of stone spans the deep gorge of the river, close to the town; and the ancient stone clapper bridges, of which perhaps Post Bridge is the best known, already described in the chapter on antiquities.