Secret rooms are often to be found in old houses. There is an example at Bisham Abbey, with a fireplace, the chimney of which is said to be connected with that of the hall, so as to prevent its smoke being observed. At Ufton Court there are several hiding-places, one of which has an exit to the open air. It is said that Charles I passed the night of November 19th, 1644, in a secret room at the manor house, West Shefford. In 1852 some houses which stood on the site of the former ditch of Windsor Castle were removed, and a passage was found cut through the chalk, with stone steps and stone arching. It had probably been a secret way from the interior of the Castle to the moat. We have many buildings in Berkshire belonging to the seventeenth century. Coleshill House, south-west of Faringdon, was built by the celebrated architect Inigo Jones (1572-1652) at the time of the Commonwealth, and he also built most of Milton House, near Steventon, in which village are some beautiful old houses. Buscot House, in the north-west corner of Berkshire, is an example of the comfortable, though not very beautiful mansions built at the close of the eighteenth century. The residential part of Windsor Castle dates in part from the reign of Henry II, but it has been greatly altered from time to time. Its present appearance is largely due to Sir Jeffry Wyatville (1766-1840), who modified and rebuilt a great deal in the time of George IV. His object was to make the Castle a comfortable residence and at the same time to preserve the appearance of an ancient fortress. 21. COMMUNICATIONS--ANCIENT AND MODERN. The Ridge Way is one of the oldest roads in England. It enters Berkshire on the chalk downs above Ashbury at a level of 600 feet above the sea, and runs in an easterly direction by Wayland Smith's Cave and Uffington Castle; thence by Hackpen Hill to Letcombe Castle, along the top of the ridge north of West and East Ilsley. From here, turning to the right across the little valley on Compton Downs, the road probably reached the river Thames at Streatley. This old road is also known as the Icknield Way, and there is another old road named the Port Way, which follows the valley north of the chalk downs, running through Ashbury and Wantage. It is marked on the maps as a Roman road, and probably both roads were in use in Roman times, though the Ridge Way at least is almost certainly of much older date. The Roman road from Marlborough to Silchester followed much the same line as the modern road from Hungerford to Speen near Newbury, but there does not seem to be any trace of the road from that place to Silchester. The Roman road from Cirencester to Silchester ran by way of Baydon and Wickham, joining the Marlborough road at Speen. There is but little trace of the Roman road from Silchester to Dorchester in Oxfordshire, but the Silchester and London road is fairly well marked, and part of it, as we said in a former chapter, is known as the "Devil's Highway."