Until 1860, the way into the village from the main road (coloured green) was through Gate Lane, or Gid Lane as it is often called, just off the top edge of the map. The Hen & Chicken was reached by a footpath through a wood. In 1860, Sir Thomas Miller had this wood cut down and the road made from the pond in Upper Froyle (near Home Farm) to the Hen & Chicken (coloured blue on the map). He then had what was known as the Park Gates erected, and a double lodge built there, intending to use Gate Lane as a private drive. The authorities at the time would not allow him to close the lane, so the iron gate was never hung. It lay in Blundens farmyard for many years. This gate weighed 7cwts., and was collected during World War 2 under the iron salvage drive of 1942. In 1998 little remains to show where the lodges were at the entrance to Gid Lane, and the pond, long disused, was made into a grassed area to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth 2nd in 1977.

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