LANE:

Noun: 1a. A narrow country road. b. A narrow way or passage between walls, hedges, or fences. 2. A narrow passage, course, or track, especially: a. A prescribed course for ships or aircraft. b. A strip delineated on a street or highway to accommodate a single line of vehicles: a breakdown lane; an express lane.c. Sports/ One of a set of parallel courses marking the bounds for contestants in a race, especially in swimming or track. d. Sports A wood-surfaced passageway or alley along which a bowling ball is rolled. e. Sports An unmarked lengthwise area of a playing field or ice rink viewed as the main playing area for a particular position, such as a wing in soccer. f. Basketball The rectangular area marked on a court from the end line to the foul line.

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English.


Europe has a network of lanes that were the wagon trails and routes for mediæval travelers, pilgrims, tradesmen and drovers. Bounded by banks, hedgerows and walls, they cross bridges and fords on the way to market towns and places of work. Many of them are so old they have been worn by centuries of use into what are termed ‘sunken lanes’ and turned into tunnel-like mazes by overarching hedges. Some of these ‘sunken lanes’ are quite unsuitable for motorised traffic, but as the need for vehicle access has increased so the number of surviving green lanes has shrunk.

They form wildlife habitats and have great historical interest, their contours, surfaces and routes reflect the goods and people that used them. Preservation groups are now taking action to reduce future losses.

Lanes are not found solely in the countryside, they also appear in towns under sense 1b of the definition. The oldest part of Brighton, England, for example, is known as The Lanes. They are narrow, brick-paved passages, dating back to the time when the village of Brighthelmstone consisted of a maze of streets housing the market, a sprinkling of chapels, the poorhouse and the fishermen's cottages. After the village was burnt to the ground by French invaders in the 16th century it was rebuilt along the same streets covering an area of approximately one square mile. Many of the buildings are in fact even older than they look, the 17th century fisherman’s cottages having been re-fronted over the years. They are now mostly antique shops, coffee shops, boutiques and small restaurants.