Drove Road

Drove Road, Throckley appears on a 1769 ‘Plan of Enclosure Lands’ (Northumberland Record Office), and the name is marked on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey plan as if it was the name of the road rather than its function. The present Drove Road is still a broad road and may be a medieval or earlier route for leading livestock to and from Throckley Fell, an area now north of the A69. A Roman surface was recorded in excavations in 2002 on Hexham Road in advance of installing renewed water mains. This raises the possibility that Drove Road may be of even greater age, perhaps originally representing a track leading through the milecastle.