The course of the stretch of Roman London-Silchester road from the Roman bridge site at Staines to Sunningdale has been in dispute for a long time, for it seems to have completely disappeared due to the low-lying nature of the land in Egham and Virginia Water, and extensive landscaping of the latter in the eighteenth century. However, some information in the Surrey Sites and Monuments Record, coupled with indications on the aerial photographs from the MultiMap web site seem to show its course, and I was excited to find that the extension of the main section (beyond Runnymede Bridge where the road turns to meet Staines Bridge) is a very interesting leyline. It not only gives another example of a straight stretch of Roman road aligning on a ley, but is also illustrates the Hidden Unity principle very well, going through several prominent places of worship of different faiths.

The first stretch of the road is clearly visible on the Ordnance Survey maps, as this part is used as a road today. It can be seen coming from the City of London, running along the northern border of Hyde Park, going through Hammersmith, running beside the river briefly at Brentford, past the grounds of Syon House and Hounslow Heath, finally crossing the river at Staines, the Roman bridging settlement of Ad Pontes.

Here, however, it seems to disappear - one likely contender for its course is the Egham Causeway, which runs westwards from Staines Bridge to the Glanty, the present position of Runnymede Bridge. The banking visible today was built in the thirteenth century, but there is evidence that the Roman road could have taken this route.

In 1964 David Barker found some late Bronze Age potsherds in a bank at the bottom of his garden at the time, and when this was investigated it was found to be another stretch of causeway, 18 metres in width, at an angle to the known one, going in a south-westerly direction, towards the Virginia Water lake and lining up with the known stretch of road where it reappears at Sunningdale.

The Surrey Sites and Monuments Record says of it: "To the north east it is fragmentary but can still be traced along the back of Grange Road where the fences are aligned along it, to the junction of Station and High Street (Egham). It reappears briefly in the corner of the football field at Clanty, as a bank 14 metres in width. It is significant that in the vicinity of Egham Church (Saxon in origin) the High Street is on its apparent alignment.

"Although such evidence as there is points to a medieval origin for the Egham causeway, there can be no doubt that if this portion is a continuation, it effectively bridges two accepted portions of Roman Road 4a, Staines Bridge and Bakeham House, avoiding low ground to the north and south and taking advantage of a slight natural ridge through Egham. It may be that the Egham causeway represents the line of the Roman road re-made in medieval times."

The Virginia Water area was also low-lying marshy land before it was landscaped by William, Duke of Cumberland in the 1740s, (known as the "Butcher of Culloden" after his campaign in Scotland in 1746), so this, and the subsequent building of the lake and park, and Fort Belvedere to the south, is probably the reason for the disappearance of the road here. Cumberland was a brother of George III and Ranger of Windsor Great Park. It was also close to the possible site of an even greater butchery in AD60 - that being the final battle between the Roman 14th Legion and Queen Boudiccea's army of Britons in rebellion. The London Archaeologist, dated Autumn 1983 gave sound reasons for believing the site to have been somewhere between Callow Hill and Knowl Hill, and it certainly fulfils Tacitus' description of the Roman position being approached by a narrow defile with a wood at the back and a plain in the front.

The Virginia Water Roman temple seems to have been placed exactly on the line of the road. This is a genuine temple, about 2,000 years old, however it was not built here but at Leptis Magna near Tripoli in Libya. It was brought to England and presented to the Prince Regent in 1816. A proposal was made to use it for the portico of the British Museum but this never materialised and the stones were set up at Virginia Water as an ornament in 1826 by George IV "to beautify his garden".

Fort Belvedere to the south-west seems to be on the line of the road. This was a folly that became a royal residence. The Duke of Cumberland built it as a lavish summer-house, from the roof of which seven counties can be seen. It was enlarged by George IV in 1828 and converted into the appearance of a fort. Edward VIII lived at Fort Belvedere from 1928 until his abdication in 1936, and his abdication broadcast was made from here.

South-west of Fort Belvedere, a walk revealed a stretch of private road and a field boundary in the other direction, following the line of the road, near Coworth Farm. A little further on the line of the road crosses Bedford Lane, Sunningdale - it is just beyond this that it appears on the street map as "The Devil's Highway", the name it has been known by from here all the way to Silchester. At Bedford Lane there did not seem to be any sign of it - a local resident was surprised that the course of a Roman road ran through his house - then a gap in the hedge on the other side of the road revealed a short path followed by a property boundary following the road line. This is clearly visible on the aerial photograph from Multimap, going down to the next road junction it crosses, at Broomhall Lane.

From here the road crosses Wardour Lodge and Hillhampton - both are private land and inaccessible, but a fence line can be seen following it from Dry Arch Road to Broomhall Lane. It then runs along a stretch of road at Fireball Hill, and at the end of this can be seen going into the distance as a track.

It continues from here to Windlesham, where it is clearly visible on the aerial photograph as a line of trees, then at Swinley Road turns westward and goes across Swinley Forest to the Roman Star Post as a wide track, clearly present on the ground and from the air. Then it goes through Crowthorne, passing just north of Broadmoor Hospital - this is clear from the air. There are two estates there that are on the line of the road - Roman Ride and Devil's Highway. Finally it goes through the Stratfield Saye area and runs to the East Gate of the City of Calleva at Silchester - visible as a track and then a cropmark as it approaches the gate.

Examination of the aerial photograph of the area on the MultiMap site and a visit to Fort Belvedere seemed to indicate that the road did run on a fairly straight course from Sunningdale to Runnymede Bridge. Starting from Sunningdale, the known beginning of the road, known as the Devil's Highway, it is very clear from the aerial picture as a wooded line. About halfway between here and Fort Belvedere there is what appears to be a crop mark in a field, and a little further on a dark line crossing a wood (where the fence boundary and private road were found previously) adjoining the Fort's garden is also on the same alignment, which points directly at the Fort building. This is an impressive structure with a prospect tower, but no indications of the road could be found on the ground, and it was noticed that the ground fell away sharply behind the building, which cast some doubt on whether the road passed through the site, but the aerial photographs seem to indicate that it did not avoid the hill. Possibly the extensive landscaping of the Duke of Cumberland accentuated the slope, to make it more fort-like. In the close-up aerial photograph of the Fort there is a faint line crossing the lawn, but the staff there informed me that this was due to a brick path which had once been there.

The alignment then crosses the Crown Estate land behind the Fort, and goes to the place where the Leptis Magna temple was placed. Blacknest Road passes through the centre of the ruins, which can be seen on either side of it. There is also a path to them from Fort Belvedere, but this begins some way south of the apparent alignment of the Roman road.

The line of the road then seems to cross the Virginia Water lake, and just beyond it there is another dark mark following the line, in the Virginia Water grounds. When it reaches the A30 between Englefield Green and Virginia Water it seems to make a slight turn to align with a path running to the south-east of Royal Holloway College. There is quite a sizeable bank here, and it is clearly visible in the aerial photograph.

It continues from here to Grange Road, where there is a bank running behind it which was mentioned in the Surrey Sites and Monuments Record as an extension of the thirteenth century Egham Causeway, which could be the Roman road re-made in medieval times. Here it makes another slight turn run along Grange Road and to link with the Glanty end of the Egham Causeway, which points towards the site of the Roman bridge at Staines.

The main part of the road stretch, and the mean of the slight diversion at the A30 and Grange Road, seems to be a very interesting ley. Though made up mainly of fairly recent (presumably subconsciously sited) places of worship, it has a number of the small indications which seem to show a ley's authenticity, and in so doing is good further evidence for the Hidden Unity principle.

The line first passes through is Egham United Church, a local union of Methodists and Presbyterians. It then goes across Staines Moor to reach Heathrow Airport chapel, a strange underground concrete cave marked on the surface by a cairn of stones surmounted by a cross. This chapel seemed to have powerful head-hum. It is, of course, multi-denominational with a multi-faith prayer room.

The next point on the line is Hanwell Church, another Victorian building on an earlier site with a tall spire and a straight path immediately adjacent which is another ley aligning 8 churches. There is also a very spectacular double pine tree near it.

From here the line runs along a short stretch of boundary and goes through a major cross-roads before reaching the Neasden Mandir - a resplendent Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Lord Swaminarayan, who is worshipped mainly in the Gujarat region in India. It was built in 1995 as a replica of the Akshardam temple in western India. An elaborate construction of limestone and marble, it took over a thousand sculptors to build it. The 50,000 tons of rock was shipped to India where traditional craftsmen carved it, and it was then shipped to London to be erected - all at a cost of around £10 million. This is the largest Hindu temple outside India.

The line contiues to cross Watling Street, the Roman road to St. Albans, at a precise right angle, before going to Hampstead Garden Suburb and the Norrice Lea Orthodox Synagogue. This building dates from 1933. The ley then goes through two more churches on the West London Ordnance Survey map.

This is a most interesting ley, combining both Roman road and Hidden Unity associations.