Roman Roads in Britain

THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES !' m ... 0'<.;v.' •cv^ '. V'- / / ^ .^ /- \^ ; EARLY BRITAIN. ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN BY THOMAS CODRINGTON M. INST. C.E., F.G.S. WITH LARGE CHART OF THE ROMAN ROADS, AND SMALL MAPS LY THE TEXT SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, LONDON: NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C. 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.G. ErIGHTON ; 129, NORTH STREET. 1903 PUBLISHED UNDEK THE DIRECTION OF THE GENERAL LITERATURE COMAHTTEE. DA CsHr 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 literature of the subject has been widely influenced by the spurious Itinerary attributed to Richard of Ciren- cester. 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 undeserved 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 cer- tainty, but more often the precise course is doubtful, and the entire course of some roads connecting known stations of the Itinerary of Antonine can IV PREFACE 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 complete, 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 available 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 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 reference 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 espe- cially to the Rev. George Herbert for undertaking much troublesome work in looking through the proofs, and aiding in thi- preparation of the map. T. C. —— — 1 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. INTRODUCTION 7 II. WATLING STREET . 4 III. WATLING STREET Continued ... 84 1 IV. ERMING STREET . 27 V. ERMING STREET C07ltimied . -174 VI. EAST ANGLIA, IKNILD STREET, AND AKE- MAN STREET . 211 VII. THE FOSS WAY . 245 VIII. RIKNILD STREET . 27 IX. ROMAN ROADS FROM LONDON TO SIL- CHESTER AND THE WEST . 285 X. ROMAN ROADS FROM LONDON TO SIL- CHESTER AND THE WEST Continued 329 XI. CONCLUSION ..... 376 INDEX ....... 387 ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The roads constructed during the Roman occupa- tion do not appeal to the imagination like such remains as the Wall of Hadrian, or the ruins of an ancient city ; but when the extent and the permanent nature and etfect 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 con- dition, 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 construction, however, was probably carried out under many masters, and perhaps not at the same time. The method of construction followed by the Roman 8 ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN 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 descriptions of ancient authors, as given by Nicholas Bergier in 1622.^ Vitruvius, who wrote about the time of the Christian 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 adoj)ted Vitruvius' names for the several layers, and this is the only authority from which later writers give those names, Stratum, Ri/dits, Nucleus, and Pavimentum, to layers found in Roman roads. A quotation from the poet Statius ^ (a.d. 81-96), ^ Histoire des Grands Oieniins de F Empire Romain, 1622. 2 De Arctiiteciura, lib. vii. cap. i. ^ Silvariiin, lil). iv. iii. I lie primus lal)or inchoarc sulcos, Et rescindere limites ; et alto Egestii penitus cavare terras. ; INTRODUCTION 9 with tlie explanation given by Bergier, lias 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^ (157°) 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 illustration. The road consisted of three divisions, the middle paved with f^at 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 wheeled 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 Mox haustas aliter replere fossas, Et summo gremium pavare dorso Ne nutent sola, ne maligna sedes, Et pressis dul)iuin cubile saxis. Tunc umbonibus hinc et hinc coaclis, Et crebris iter alligave gomphis. ^ I quattro libri deir Architeclura, lib. iii. cap iii. lO ROMAN ROADS IN BRITAIN section of the roads which lie 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. The middle road was separated from the side roads by flat stones set on edge, and appeared to have been used by wheeled vehicles. The side roads, which were made much in the same manner, might, he thought, have served for foot passengers and perhaps for horsemen, and were wide enough to allow a horseman and a man on foot to pass easily. No mention is made of a paved surface. Of such roads there are still remains, which are called Chausse'es de Brunhaut, and the middle and side roads seem to survive in the chauss'ees and ac- cotemeiits of modern French roads. The evidences of similar roads in Britain are few and doubtful. It is evident from remains which have been described, and others which still exist, that the Romans followed no hard-and-fast rule, but made their roads according to the situation and to the materials available, and perhaps in a different manner at different times.

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