This roadsign at Coxbench in Derbyshire, on the road to Holbrook, is the only 'official' recognition of the Portway's existence - the Ordnance Survey map also uses the name for this stretch of road.
The road name 'Portway' is found is various parts of England, and seems to be Saxon in origin. There has been much discussion about the meaning of the name, but most agree that it seems to have been used for main roads or routes in the early medieval period. One suggestion is that 'ports' were principal towns linked by this road, or that 'port' refers to carrying goods.
However, as the Derbyshire Portway runs through very few towns, I suggest that 'port' has a meaning similar to 'harbour', in other words a place where travellers can rest in safety. The harbours en route were similar to caravanserai: defensible sites, probably on hilltops, where travellers could camp overnight, possibly within a stockade. This theory is strongly supported by a number of sites along the Portway with suggestive names e.g. Harborough Rocks near Wirksworth and Arbour Hill near Dale.
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