Wain-a-Long Road is between Salisbury and Laverstock.
Wain-a-Long Road is an unusual road name – as far as I can see it’s the only one in the country.
From Wikipedia
There are at least three words which are pronounced ‘Wain’:
- the name ‘Wayne’, as in John Wayne, or Wayne Bridge
- the Scottish dialect ‘Wain’, meaning a child
- the old English ‘Wain’, meaning ‘wagon’, as in Constable’s painting “The Haywain”
Although Wayne Bridge will always have a special place in my heart for knocking Arsenal out of the Champions League back in 2004, I would guess that the name ‘Wain-a-long Road’ is derived from ‘Wain’ meaning ‘wagon’.
Of the three roads that go over the hill from Laverstock, Wain-a-Long Road would be a good route for a horse and cart – it goes up the hill at a diagonal, so it’s much less steep than the other two.
The ‘main road’ over the hill was Milford Hollow, then Milford Hill – the traffic of people, livestock and carts over the years ‘hollowed out’ the route. My guess would be that at some stage Wain-a-Long Road became the better alternative.
