Editing River Mole (section)

=== Mole Gap ===

The [[North Downs Way]] crosses the river at [[Box Hill, Surrey|Box Hill]] via seventeen hexagonal [[step-stone bridge|stepping stone]]s, which are frequently submerged after heavy rainfall.  The current stones were dedicated in September 1946 by the then Prime Minister [[Clement Attlee]], replacing those destroyed during the Second World War as an anti-invasion measure.<ref name=Telegraph_walk/><ref>{{cite magazine |year= 1946 |title= Picture of the Week |magazine= Life |volume= 21 |issue= 13 |page= 36 |publisher= Time Inc. }}</ref> The location is popular with anglers and families, but swimming is strongly discouraged as the water is polluted in places. The stones give their name to the pub in the nearby village of [[Westhumble]].

When the Burford Bridge was rebuilt in 1937, excavations revealed a "flint-surfaced approach to [a] ford at low level having all the signs of Roman workmanship" suggesting that [[Stane Street (Chichester)|Stane Street]] (which ran from [[London]] to [[Chichester]] via [[Dorking]]) crossed the river at this point.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= The Mole Crossing at Burford  |location= London |date= 25 March 1937 |issue= 47642 |page= 17}}</ref> In Defoe's time, there was a footbridge at this point, but carts and waggons had to cross the river by a ford.