The Bluestone Heath Road is an ancient road

Road

A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...

 across the Lincolnshire Wolds

Lincolnshire Wolds

The Lincolnshire Wolds is a range of hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , and the highest area of land in eastern England between Yorkshire and Kent...

 in Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Route

The route begins at Candlesby

Candlesby

Candlesby is a village in the civil parish of Candlesby with Gunby, about east of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England. Gunby is a hamlet about east of Candlesby....

 and runs 14 miles (22.5 km) northbound to Caistor

Caistor

See Caistor St Edmund for the Roman settlement in Norfolk or Caister-on-Sea for the town in NorfolkCaistor is a town and civil parish situated in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. As its name implies, it was originally a Roman castrum or fortress...

, following closely an ancient ridge

Ridge

A ridge is a geological feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Ridges are usually termed hills or mountains as well, depending on size. There are several main types of ridges:...

 trail

Trail

A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...

 across the spine of the wold. It climbs to a height of 98 metres (320 feet) above sea level near Tetford

Tetford

Tetford is both a village and a parish in the Lincolnshire Wolds, northeast of Horncastle, south of Louth and northwest of Spilsby. It is in a shallow valley, situated at the bottom of a 98 m high ridge on which runs the Bluestone Heath Road...

, and, on a fine day, provides a marvelous view of the hamlets, corn fields, hills and landmarks of the area, such as Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral is a historic Anglican cathedral in Lincoln in England and seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 249 years . The central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt...

, Boston Stump and the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

.

The route is marked on the Landranger No 122 (Skegness

Skegness

Skegness is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. Located on the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, east of the city of Lincoln it has a total resident population of 18,910....

 Area) Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...

 map.

History

The route is thought to have been developed by the earliest Celtic settlers of the region and used as a drove road for moving livestock. The primary evidence for this is the route's width compared to nearby routes and its relative distance from existing settlements of the time.

The Ancient Roman people also used the road, sometimes closely following the original Celtic route, sometimes deviating from it (for example, near Tetford

Tetford

Tetford is both a village and a parish in the Lincolnshire Wolds, northeast of Horncastle, south of Louth and northwest of Spilsby. It is in a shallow valley, situated at the bottom of a 98 m high ridge on which runs the Bluestone Heath Road...

 where the Roman route cuts into the valley and away from the ridge line).

There is a disputed claim that the road was used as a munitions store during WWII due to its proximity to a number of air fields, together with a local legend that a German Doodlebug

V-1 flying bomb

The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....

 or V2 rocket landed on Tetford Hill but never detonated.