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Roman Roads in Britain

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Roman Roads in Britain ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN c < t < r c ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN BY THE LATE THOMAS CODRINGTON M, INST.C. E., F. G S. fFITH LARGE CHART OF THE ROMAN ROADS AND SMALL MAPS IN THE TEXT REPRINT OF THIRD EDITION LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1919 . • r r 11 'X/^i-r * ' Ci First Edition^ 1903 Second Edition, Revised, 1905 Tliird Edition, Revised, 1918 (.Reprint), 19 „ ,, 19 PREFACE The following attempt to describe the Roman roads of Britain originated in observations made in all parts of the country as opportunities presented themselves to me from time to time. On turning to other sources of information, the curious fact appeared that for a century past the litera- ture of the subject has been widely influenced by the spurious Itinerary attributed to Richard of Cirencester. Though that was long ago shown to be a forgery, statements derived from it, and suppositions founded upon them, are continually repeated, casting suspicion sometimes unde- served on accounts which prove to be otherwise accurate. A wide publicity, and some semblance of authority, have been given to imaginary roads and stations by the new Ordnance maps. Those who early in the last century, under the influence of the new Itinerary, traced the Roman roads, unfortunately left but scanty accounts of the remains which came under their notice, many of which have since been destroyed or covered up in the making of modern roads; and with the evidence now available few Roman roads can be traced continuously. The gaps can often be filled with reasonable certainty, but more often the precise course is doubtful, and the entire course of some roads connecting known stations of the Itinerary of Antonine can only be guessed at. All vestiges may have been destroyed, but chance discoveries show' that much may yet be learned from remains buried beneath the soil. The network of roads might easily be made more com- plete, as a glance at the map will show ; but it seems best ,to refrain from conjecture as much as possible, and to follow the roads only so far as there is evidence avail- able for tracing them. Where routes of the Itinerary of Antonine can be identified, the position of the stations will be fixed by distances, or other evidence, and the dimensions ??4500 p** VI PREFACE of camps and walled stations on the courses of the roads will be given ; but no attempt will be made to describe the remains of towns and stations. To no one can the imperfection of this attempt to describe the Roman roads of the country be more evident than it is to myself. The materials available are incomplete, and though I am indebted for information to many under whose notice remains have come in recent years, it must happen that, in so wide a field, vestiges known locally, and perhaps described, have been overlooked. My acknowledgments are due for the facilities for refer- ence which have been afforded me in the library of the Society of Antiquaries with the ready help of Mr. George Clinch. My thanks are also due to the Rev. E. McClure for his valuable advice, and especially to the Rev. George Herbert for undertaking much troublesome work in looking through the proofs, and aiding in the preparation of the map. T. C. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION A SECOND edition, issued in 1905, was a reprint of the first with an appendix containing some additional par- ticulars which had come under my notice. These have now been embodied in the text with others matters, which have been since published, or have been courteously communicated by correspondents, or are the result of my own observation. Very few roads have been added. Claims of others to be considered Roman roads have been made, and further examination may strengthen these claims, but at present they do not seem to me to be conclusive. While fresh remains and traces of Roman roads have been brought to light, some of those which were visible fourteen years ago ma}^ be so no longer. I am unable to verify how far that is the case, and it seems best to leave the record of traces as it was in 1903. T. C. Twickenham, 1918. vn —— CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ..... II II. WATLING STREET ..... 36 III. WATLING STREET Continued 72 IV. ERMING STREET ..... III V. ERMING STREET continued VI. EAST ANGLIA, IKNILD STREET, AND AKEMAN STREET ...... 177 VII. THE FOSS WAY ..... VIII. RIKNILD STREET ..... 222 IX. ROMAN ROADS FROM LONDON TO SILCIIESTER AND ' THE SOUTH-WEST .... X. ROMAN ROADS FROM SILCHESTER TO THE WEST 266 XI. CONCLUSION . ... 301 INDEX ....... 3-^3 IX MAPS PAGE In PoucJl GENERAL MAP . , WATLING STREET, SOUTH . • 3^ WATLING STREET, NORTH . '73 ERMING STREET, SOUTH . -113 ERMING STREET, NORTH . 147 EAST ANGLIA, IKNILD STREET AND AKEMAN STREET . 1 79 FOSS WAY ........ 205 RIKNILD STREET ....... 223 LONDON TO SILCHESTER AND THE SOUTH-WEST . 237 SILCHESTER TO THE WEST . ... 267 ; ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The roads constructed during the Roman occupation do not appeal to the imagination hke such remains as the Wall of Hadrian, or the ruins of an ancient city ; but when the extent and the permanent nature and effect of them are considered, they may claim a foremost place among the remains of Roman work in the country. They were part of the network of roads that covered the Roman world for many centuries they continued to be the chief means of communication within the island; and while some of them are still to be seen in almost perfect condition, portions of many more form part of the foundations of roads now in use. The course of the roads was evidently planned with skill, and laid out with a complete grasp of the general features of the country to be passed through ; the work of construc- tion, however, was probably carried out under many masters, and perhaps not at the same time. The method of construction followed by the Roman road-makers has unfortunately not been investigated with any thoroughness in this country. What we do know of it has generally been learned from sections made by chance, and too often not carefully described, and in the absence of ascertained facts writers have fallen back on the descrip- tions of ancient authors, as given by Nicholas Bergier in 1622.^ Vitruvius, who wrote about the time of the Christian ^ Histoire des Grands Chemins de VEmpire Romain, 1622. II ; ; 12 ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN era, is often cited as having described the manner in which the Romans made their roads, but he was really describing the making of pavements in connexion with architectural works.^ Bergier states that as he found no ancient author who had described clearly the interior parts of paved Roman roads, he was led to go to descriptions of the manner of constructing pavements in connexion with buildings, and he opened Roman roads near Rheims to see how far they corresponded with Vitruvius' description. He gives the results, which show that neither the number of the layers which he found, nor their order, agreed with this description, or with each other. He however adopted Vitruvius' names for the several layers, and this is the only authority from which later writers give those names, Stratum, Rndits, Nucleus, and Pavimcntum, to layers found in Roman roads. A quotation from the poet Statins^ (a.d. 81-96), with the explanation given by Bergier, has often been made use of since. It relates to the making of the Via Domitiana, but Statins was more concerned with flattering Domitian than with precise description, and he affords only a very general and poetical sketch of marking out the road, excavating the ground, and filling in other material to form a bed for the pavement or other surface layer. Palladio ^ (1570) gives an account of two methods of making Roman roads in Italy. One is described as simply a mound of sand or gravel raised somewhat in the middle the description of the other seems to have been based on remains of roads then existing, and a plan is given in illus- tration. The road consisted of three divisions, the middle 1 De Architectuva, lib. vii. cap. i, » 2 Silvarum, lib. iv. iii. Hie primus labor inchoare sulcos, Et rescindere limites; et alto Egestu penitus cavare terras. Mox haustas aliter rep] ere fossas, Et summo gremium parare dorso Ne nutent sola, ne maligna sedes, Et pressis dubium cubile saxis. Tunc umbonibus hinc et hinc coactis, Et crebris iter alligare gomphis. " I quaiiro lihri dell' Architectura, lib, iii, cap. iii. INTRODUCTION 13 paved with flat stones of irregular shape, closely jointed; and two sides somewhat lower separated from the middle by stones set on edge. The sides, which were half the width of the middle, were covered with sand and small gravel. According to Palladio those on foot travelled on the paved road, and horses on the side roads, and he does not mention whe^ed traffic. In France remains of Roman roads with a middle and two side spaces have been found. Bergier unfortunately tells us nothing about the transverse section of the roads which he opened near Rheims, but Gautier, a century later, describes ^ such roads, of which he had seen many remains. The materials composing the middle portion of the road were in a trench as much as three feet deep, from which the earth had been taken to form the side roads. At the bottom of the trench was a pavement of stones on edge, five or six inches thick, and a little rounded, over which was a bed two or three feet thick of stones of about the size of eggs.
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