Land of the Shire Rack
It will not be immediately obvious that this is a "Saturday Timewatch" photo. However, in fact it goes back a thousand years and more.
The short version is that this is a section of the county boundary between Dorset and Wiltshire which has been known for hundreds of years as a ‘Shire Rack’. There are several explanations for the use of the word 'rack'. One possibility is that it is a hollow way or sunken lane mentioned on these pages before. In fact the track you can see is a public right-of-way that still runs for miles along the whole length of the rack. Another possibility is a corruption of ‘Shire Oak’ as large trees were often used as landmarks in Anglo Saxon charters and this dividing line did indeed originally mark the boundary between major land estates.
To the left of the big 'horizontal' tree is Wiltshire. To the right of the track is the county of Dorset. Even after hundreds of years, a raised bank can clearly be seen in places along the boundary,. However, at this location it is barely more than a foot or two feet high. So I used the tree to give that boundary effect instead.
It is a long article but should you wish to read more, here is the link that explained everything to me cernegiant.co.uk/group/DNHAS/DNHAS%20Shire%20Rack%20paper...
Land of the Shire Rack
It will not be immediately obvious that this is a "Saturday Timewatch" photo. However, in fact it goes back a thousand years and more.
The short version is that this is a section of the county boundary between Dorset and Wiltshire which has been known for hundreds of years as a ‘Shire Rack’. There are several explanations for the use of the word 'rack'. One possibility is that it is a hollow way or sunken lane mentioned on these pages before. In fact the track you can see is a public right-of-way that still runs for miles along the whole length of the rack. Another possibility is a corruption of ‘Shire Oak’ as large trees were often used as landmarks in Anglo Saxon charters and this dividing line did indeed originally mark the boundary between major land estates.
To the left of the big 'horizontal' tree is Wiltshire. To the right of the track is the county of Dorset. Even after hundreds of years, a raised bank can clearly be seen in places along the boundary,. However, at this location it is barely more than a foot or two feet high. So I used the tree to give that boundary effect instead.
It is a long article but should you wish to read more, here is the link that explained everything to me cernegiant.co.uk/group/DNHAS/DNHAS%20Shire%20Rack%20paper...