Duddington: Examining the “Green Lane”! (31.10.2025)
This article is designed to run in parallel with my two blog articles on the same subject (Green Lane - Royal Oak). In the latter case, we visited Duddington on the 26.10.2025 – a Sunday during which it was pouring down with rain. As we were staying for five-days in Market Overton (around 16-miles away in Rutland) – we were able to travel freely around the area. The two blog articles represent the photographs and the videos we took on that day. Since then, Gee found an old map of Duddington which explained that the “Green Lane” did indeed run from the village Green to the right-hand side of the Royal Oak Inn (as was my suspicion) – travelling behind (and further to the East) of the housing that otherwise affront the East-side of the High Street. I suspect that local people used this pathway as a means to avoid the scrutiny of the High Street and visit one another’s houses in relative privacy. Working from North to South down the High Street - the first location is direction opposite the village Green. This is sign-posted "Green Lane":
Indeed, a satellite photograph of Duddington village does support this analysis – despite what was the middle section of Green Lane now being fenced-off and forming a grazing area for sheep. Yes – hikers and ramblers can access and walk through the area – but it is no longer a continuous and recognisable village lane. Around one-third by the village Green is still a lane – and one-third running adjacent to the Royal Oak Inn (although this section is no longer sign-posted other than telling the walker or driver that it is a “No Through Road”). Furthermore, continuing to traverse the High Steet from North to South - the middle section of what was the continuous “Green Lane” has an alleyway (defined by two ornate stone walls - and named in old maps as the "Kissing Lane") that links Duddington Manor to the pathway itself.
Obviously, the local Lord – or his servants – required an access to and from the “Green Lane” for their own purposes. As the Green once possessed a very busy Public House, and given that St Mary’s Church was not far away, the Green itself may well have been the centre of the village – particularly as the Stocks and Whipping Post used to be stationed upon the Green itself. Goods and vehicles entered the village from the North-end – traversing past the water-wells and the village Green. The High Street then travels Southward towards the Royal Oak Inn – which was probably the “quiet” end of the settlement – away from churches, criminal issues, and commerce, etc. Today, there are busy roads at both ends of the village (the North and South) – with the road to the West leading over the bridge to Tixover. This would be considered the quiet end today – but not so long ago regular traffic used to move through the village toward Leicester and the surrounding areas. Moving-on down the High Street to its Southern-most point - the Royal Oak Inn is encountered:
