Spirit Roads

Corpse roads were a means of transporting corpses from remote communities to cemeteries. Many such roads have disappeared. In spirit lore, spirits, phantasms, wraiths, and fairies move through the landscape along special routes. These such routes were believed to have something in common with ley lines. Spirits were said to fly along a direct course close to the ground. Any obstructions such as buildings, fences and walls were kept clear to avoid the flitting spectres.

Corpses were conveyed along defined corpse roads to avoid their spirits returning to haunt the living. It was a widespread custom, for example, that the feet of the corpse be kept pointing away from the family home on its journey to the cemetery. It was believed spirits could not cross running water. Often, corpses were taken over bridges in route to their burial.

The ancient spirit folklore that attached itself to the medieval and later corpse roads also may have informed certain prehistoric features. In Britain, Neolithic earthen avenues also known as cursuses linked burial mounds. Similarly, some Neolithic and Bronze Age graves, especially in France and Britain, are associated with stone rows, like those at Merrivale on Dartmoor, with intriguing blocking stones at their ends.