In this week's Kith and Kin, Peter Munro from the Borders Family History Society compares the roads of the past to present day roads and pot holes...

 

Many people moan about the poor state of the roads, nowadays.

I often report potholes to the Council online. Some get repaired but others don’t.

I think it has been several years since I reported the pot hole at the end of my drive; that pot hole was caused by heavy machinery resurfacing an adjacent road.

However, this is not a complaint about that.

I was listening to a man talking about the steam-driven tractors, steam-rollers and tar-laying machines laying road surfaces in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

His reminiscences led to my remembering the roads of my youth.

It seems incredible now but there were some unmade roads in London suburbs in the 1960s.

When I was at school in Essex around 1959, living with my grandparents, our road, the main road, and many other roads were “metalled.” Metalled roads had no metal in them, they are roads that are surfaced with a layer of gravel, crushed stone, asphalt or concrete, though I can’t remember asphalt or concrete ever being used on our roads.

The word “metalled” comes from Latin; the word “metallum” meaning quarry or mine. Metalled roads could withstand heavy traffic and were less likely to be damaged by bad weather.

Their durable surface was comfortable to drive and walk on.

School was about three-quarters of a mile away. There were three feasible routes, all with disadvantages. I could walk to the end of the road and turn right; that led directly to the main road, a busy and noisy road and when you’re seven years old, that seems a big disadvantage and also, it was a bit farther to school.

However, in wet weather, it was the best route because all the roads were metalled.

The easiest route was via an unmade road (New Captains Road), made up of grassy hillocks and various sizes of pot holes. It had a surface of sorts, mud and bits of gravel, very slippery in rain or snow, but it was the shortest route to the main road, and then I could cross and go down a little-used road that went past the town hall.

I discovered, while writing, that it’s called Melrose Road!

The third route was my favourite. There was an unmade footpath that led between two high hedges towards the church, but in spite of it being unmade, it was generally comfortable to walk on.

Behind the post office, there was another footpath to the town hall. It was my favourite route, partly because it went past a junk shop, and partly because it went past my friend’s house, and often Melissa would be waiting for me.

I can remember New Captains Road being tarred and that it took several months.

Grandpa never minded driving along unmade roads; his thirty year old Austin 7 seemed to revel in them.

Certainly, we, his passengers, were bounced up and down.

So, perhaps the problem isn’t that the roads aren’t repaired as quickly as we would wish; but that cars are no longer built to cope with pot holes.