 A revival of interest in ancient roads in the 19th century brought the concept back into common use.Although the Great Ridgeway northwest of London was the best known of such routes, 19th-century British antiquarians rediscovered numerous other local ridgeways  and speculated that names such as Ryknild Street (a valley route) contained the word ridge in modified form.Scholars such as Georg Landau (1807–1865) began mapping and walking ancient ridgeway roads across Germany in the 19th century.