declined in the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and the re-casting of the road system by the turnpikes of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. To-day the sixth great change is upon us._ _It is incumbent upon us then to-day to get ourselves clear upon the theory and the history of the Road, and I propose in this essay to take them in two sections: first, the Road in general; next, that special institution the English Road._ A PREFACE The British Reinforced Concrete Engineering Co. Ltd. recently became acquainted with the fact that Mr. Hilaire Belloc was engaged in the production of an essay on the history of British Roads. In numerous writings Mr. Belloc has treated various aspects of Road history, and his learning on the subject and his method of communicating it are in high repute among wide circles of readers. He is, in fact, an outstanding literary authority on the topic. It therefore seemed to the Company that if they could acquire the copyright of the work, in which Mr. Belloc was treating the whole subject not indirectly, but directly and systematically, and if they could issue this work to people who are professionally engaged in the construction of roads, a very considerable service would be done to the cause of road development in the country. The future always becomes a little clearer if we thoroughly understand the past, and the Company feel that everybody who is giving much of his mind and life to road problems will be glad to have in his possession a book which brings out the historical and social, not to say the romantic, interest which lies beneath the surface of the English highway. Mr. Belloc was accordingly approached on the subject and agreed to sell the publishing rights of his work to the British Reinforced Concrete Engineering Co. Ltd., who now have great pleasure in issuing it to the surveying and civil engineering profession, believing that it will at once assist and beguile the work of those to whose hands the future of the English Roads, and with it much of the economic and social prosperity of the country, is largely entrusted. * * * * * THE ROAD § I THE ROAD IN GENERAL CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN OF ROADS _How Did the Road Come Into Existence: The Experimental or the Scientific Method: The Haphazard Road: The Case for Design in Road Construction._ i In order to understand any matter, especially if we have to understand it for a practical end, we must begin by the theory of the thing: we must begin by thinking out why and how it has come into existence, what its function is, and how best it can fulfil that function. Next we must note its effect, once it is formed, and the results of the fulfilment of its function. What then, to begin with, is the origin of the Road? Why did this human institution come into existence, and how does it tend to develop? How may it best be designed to fulfil its function?