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From Arthur Hall   5 December 1881

72 Stamford Street | London S.E.

Dec 5/81

“Vegetable Mould &c”

Dear Sir

Many of the minor Roman Roads about England that sustain no traffic, are called Green Lanes, being turfy.1

It appears that several of them have been regularly stratified with pavement & the original surface has thus become covered with mould in sufficient quantity to support abundant Vegetation. One such road in particular, that has been pointed out to me, runs from Chesterton near Bicester past Lord Jersey’s Park at Middleton Stoney to Woodstock, in Oxfordshire.2 There, when the surface is probed for a few feet, the labourers discover the hard stone placed there 14 or 16 centuries ago.

I do not know that this special form of illustration to your subject has come under your notice—3 & remain, | Yrs very respectfully | A. Hall

Charles Darwin Esr— | &c &c

1
The term ‘green lane’ generally applied to any unsurfaced rural road or track (OED).
2
The distance from Chesterton to Woodstock is about ten miles; Middleton Stoney is about two miles west of Chesterton. Victor Albert George Child-Villiers, seventh earl of Jersey, had a large estate, Middleton Park, in Middleton Stoney.
3
In Earthworms, pp. 176–229, CD had discussed the part played by worms in the burial of ancient buildings.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13531,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13531