Dinah’s Hollow is a holloway – a landscape feature common in Dorset, Somerset and many other parts of Britain. A holloway – literally a ‘hollow way’ or sunken lane – is defined as a road or track that is significantly lower than the land on either side: not formed by the (recent) engineering of a road cutting but possibly of much greater age. The term ‘holloway’ is thought to come from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘hola-weg’ which means ‘sunken road’; no-one knows how many of these tunnel-like lanes exist throughout Britain, but Dorset has more than its fair share.
Theories about how holloways were formed include erosion by water or traffic or digging double banks to mark the boundaries of estates. They are also found in France, Spain and the US, where these ancient routes are called “traces” – one of the best known is the Old Natchez Trace, an ancient corridor originally used by Native Americans, which starts in Mississippi and runs north-east for around 450 miles.
They are typically found in regions with soft terrain, such as the chalk and sandstone areas of southern England, rather than rocky landscapes. Essentially, they are man-made, which is why they have cultural as well as environmental significance – writers and campaigners, including Robert Macfarlane and the environmental arts charity Common Ground, have highlighted their importance. These paths were slowly etched into the landscape through repeated human activity – the passage of countless footsteps and the movement of livestock, shaping these distinctive deep lanes over time.
Shaftesbury, a major hilltop settlement, is surrounded by holloways, of which Dinah’s Hollow is the best known (partly because it has been subject to successive council plans to clear, widen or close it). Among Dorset’s other famous holloways are Shute’s Lane and Hell Lane at Symondsbury, near Bridport – if you’ve never visited it, see the BV’s spectacular walk through Hell Lane here.
No-one knows where Dinah’s Hollow originally got its name (there are also references to Diney’s Hollow and Dinas Hollow). One explanation comes from the late Bob Breach, local historian, former teacher and parish councillor, in an interview on Shaftesbury’s radio station This is Alfred, on 24th May 2021. There are two suggestions, he says – that Dinah was a local whore, or that it is Dina from Dinas, a Celtic name for a road through somewhere (in Cornwall and Wales, dinas can also mean a fort).
Whether the answer is a road or a whore, Bob Breach says: “I wouldn’t like to take a bet!”
