Roman roads in Britannia
Roman roads in Britain refers to the extensive network of c. 10,000 miles of paved trunk roads constructed and maintained during the period of Roman rule over the island (A.D. 43 - 410) (see map). Most of the network was complete by 180 A.D. Its primary function was to allow the rapid movement of troops and military supplies, but it also provided vital infrastructure for trade and the transport of goods.
The pre-Roman Britons used unpaved trackways for their communications, including very ancient ones running along elevated ridges of hills, e.g. the South Downs Way, now a public long-distance footpath. In contrast, most of the Roman network was surveyed and built from scratch, with the aim of connecting key points by the most direct possible route. The roads were all paved, to permit even heavy freight wagons to be used in all seasons and weather.
Roman roads remained in use as core trunk roads for centuries after the Romans withdrew from Britain in 410 A.D. Systematic construction of paved highways did not resume in England until the 18th century.
The most accurate and up-to-date layout of all known and putative Roman roads in Britain is contained in the Ordnance Survey's Map of Roman Britain.
Key Routes and Development
The old Roman proverb that "all roads lead to Rome", was largely applicable in Roman Britain to London (Londinium), the city founded on a virgin site by the Romans, which soon became the province's capital and largest city. The most important trunk roads were those that linked London with (a) the key ports: Dover (Dubris), Chichester and Porchester (Portus Adurni?); and (b) the main Roman Army bases (castra legionaria): York (Eboracum), Chester (Deva) and Caerleon (Isca Augusta). The Table at the foot of this article contains a detailed and linked list of the main routes under their later Saxon classification.
The earliest roads, built in the first phase of Roman occupation (the Julio-Claudian period 43-68), connected London with the ports used in the invasion (Chichester and Richborough), and with the earlier legionary bases at Colchester (Camulodunum), Lincoln (Lindum), Wroxeter (Viroconium), Gloucester (Glevum) and Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum). The Fosse Way from Exeter to Lincoln, the only major artery that did not go through London, was also built at this time to connect these bases with each other, marking the effective boundary of the early Roman province.
During the Flavian period (69-96), the roads to Lincoln, Wroxeter and Gloucester were extended (by 80) to the new (and definitive) legionary bases at York, Chester and Caerleon respectively. By 96 further extensions to York to Corbridge (Coria), and from Chester to Carlisle (Luguvalium) and Caernarfon (Segontium), were completed as Roman rule was extended over Wales and northern England. By the time Hadrian's Wall was built in c.132, the core military road network was complete.
The core network was complemented by a number of routes built primarily for commercial, rather than military, purposes. Examples include the three roads shown on the OS Roman Britain map leading from London into the important iron-mining area of the Weald; Akeman Street from St Alban's (Verulamium) to Cirencester (Corinium), which provided an alternative route from London to Gloucester to the main one via Silchester (Calleva); and in East Anglia, the road from Colchester to Norwich (Venta Icenorum), Peddars Way and the Fen Causeway- although these Anglian routes acquired military importance from 250 onwards as they linked to the Saxon Shore forts on the Anglian coast.
Construction and Maintenance
Standard Roman road construction techniques, long evolved on the Continent, were used. A 5m-wide ditch was initially dug, and then filled with three layers of material to provide stability and durability ("street" derives from the Latin "strata" meaning "layers"). The top layer was often super-hard Roman concrete. The surface of the road was elevated and cambered so as to permit run-off of rainwater, with ditches on both sides of the road to drain it away. A trunk road in Britain would typically be c.4.5m wide.
The main trunk roads were originally constructed by the Roman army. Responsibility for their regular repair and maintenance rested with designated imperial officials (the curatores viarum), though the cost would probably have been borne by the local civitas (county) authorities whose territory the road crossed. From time to time, the roads would be completely resurfaced and might even be entirely rebuilt, e.g. the complete reconstruction and widening of the Via Aemilia in N. Italy by the Emperor Augustus (r.37 B.C.- 14 A.D.), two centuries after it was first built.
Archaeological Evidence
Extant remains of Roman roads are rare, and often much degraded or contaminated by later surfacing. The roads were mostly destroyed in the 18th and 19th centuries when toll roads were built over them. In places where they have not been built over, they have been either ploughed over or overgrown by vegetation e.g. the section of Stane Street which crosses the South Downs near Bignor is now reduced to a narrow public footpath through wooded land. Well-preserved sections of Roman road include Wade's Causeway in Yorkshire, Blackstone Edge on Rishworth moor near Halifax, and at Blackpool Ridge in the Forest of Dean- although their integrity as Roman surfaces is not secure.
Wayside stations have been identified in Britain. Roman roads had regularly spaced stations along their length- the Roman equivalent of motorway service areas. Every c.5 miles (the most a horse could be ridden hard), there would be a mutatio (literally: "a change"), essentially stables where mounted messengers could change horses. Every 15 or so miles (a typical day's journey) was a mansio (literally: "a stay"). This was a full-scale wayside inn, with large stables, tavern and rooms for travelers. A good example of an excavated mansio is at Godmanchester. Mutationes and mansiones were the key infrastructure for the cursus publicus (the imperial postal system), which operated on roads throughout the Roman Empire. The Vindolanda tablets prove the existence of the cursus in Britain.
Milestones, of which 95 are recorded in Roman Inscriptions of Britain (RIB 2219 - 2314). Most of these date from the later part of the Roman period (250 A.D. onwards), and most contain only the customary dedication to the current Emperor and the number of miles to a particular destination. Only 3 display additional information: two are dedicated by the public works departments of a civitas (county) (Dobunni, RIB 2250) and a city (Lincoln, RIB 2240), showing the involvement of local authorities in road maintenance; and the third (RIB 2228) records that the Emperor Caracalla (r. 211-217 A.D.) "restored the roads, which had fallen into ruin and disuse through old age".
Maps and Itineraries of the Roman era provide useful evidence of placenames, routes and distances in Britain. The most important is the Antonine Itinerary, dating from the later third century, which contains 14 itineraries on the island.
Post-Roman Legacy
After the final withdrawal of Roman government and troops from Britain in 410, regular maintenance and repair of the road network probably ceased, and was replaced by intermittent and ad hoc work. Nevertheless, the Roman roads remained the fundamental arteries of transport in England for centuries, and systematic construction of paved highways did not resume until the building of the turnpikes in the 18th century.
In some places, the origins of the roads were forgotten and they were ascribed to mythical Anglo-Saxon giants and divinities: for instance, Wade's Causeway in North Yorkshire owes its name to Woden, the supreme god of Germanic and Norse mythology. Chaucer's pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales almost certainly used Watling Street to travel from Southwark to Canterbury.
Many modern roads continue to use the old Roman alignments. Much of Watling Street, for example, is now under the A2 and A5.
Many English placenames derive from a position on or near a Roman road, usually denoted by the element -street (also strat-, strait-, streat- and other variants). Thus, for example, Stretham means "homestead or village on a Roman road" and likewise Stretford means "ford on a Roman road".
Table of Roman roads by Saxon name in England and Wales
Note on names of Roman roads: Unlike their counterparts in Italy and some other Roman provinces, we do not know the original names of Roman roads in Britain, due to lack of literary and inscription evidence. Instead, we have a number of names ascribed to them by the Anglo-Saxons during the post-Roman era (the "Dark Ages"). The Saxon classification of a road may not correspond to the original Roman one. e.g. the Saxons gave the name of Watling Street to the entire route from Dover to London to Wroxeter. But the Romans may have regarded the first section (Dover-London) as a separate road (with a different name) from the second section. They may also have seen the London-Colchester road as its continuation, since Colchester was the first capital of Roman Britain (to 50 A.D.)
The only Saxon name which may echo an original Roman name is the Fosse Way from Exeter to Lincoln. Even then it is likely to derive from the popular, rather than official, Roman name for the road. "Fosse" may derive from Latin "fossa", meaning "ditch". But officially a road would normally be named after the Emperor in whose reign it was completed e.g. the Via Traiana from Rome to Brindisi in S. Italy, named after the Emperor Trajan (r.98-117 A.D.). Thus the putative Dover-London-Colchester route may quite possibly have been known to the Romano-Britons as the Via Claudia after the Emperor Claudius (r.41-54 A.D.) who was responsible for the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 A.D.
| Roman road | Distance | Route | Via |
| Akeman Street | 78 miles 126 km |
LONDON (Londinium) to CIRENCESTER (Corinium) | St Albans (Verulamium); Alchester |
| Dere Street | 90 miles 145 km |
YORK (Eboracum) to Hadrian's Wall(at Corbridge) | Catterick (Cataractonium); Bishop Auckland / Binchester (Vinovia) |
| Ermin Street | 48 miles 77 km |
CIRENCESTER (Corinium) to SILCHESTER (Calleva Atrebatum) | Swindon (Durocornovium?) |
| Ermine Street (variant spelling: Erming) | 200 miles 322 km |
LONDON (Londinium) to YORK (Eboracum) | Godmanchester (Durovigutum); Peterborough / Water Newton (Durobrivae); Lincoln (Lindum) |
| Fen Causeway | 90 miles 145 km |
DENVER, Norfolk to PETERBOROUGH / WATER NEWTON(Durobrivae) | |
| Fosse Way | 220 miles 354 km |
EXETER (Isca Dumnonum) to LINCOLN (Lindum) | Ilchester (Lindinis); Bath (Aquae Sulis); Cirencester (Corinium); Leicester (Ratae) |
| Icknield Street (also known as Ryknild Street) | BOURTON ON THE WATER to TEMPLEBOROUGH | ||
| King Street | 40 miles 64 km |
PETERBOROUGH / WATER NEWTON (Durobrivae) to SOUTH KESTEVEN, Lincolnshire | |
| Peddars Way | 47 miles 76 km |
through NORFOLK | |
| Portway | 133 miles 214 km |
LONDON (Londinium)to WEYMOUTH | Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum); Salisbury / Old Sarum (Sorviodunum); Dorchester (Durnovaria) |
| Stane Street (1) | 57 miles 92 km |
LONDON to CHICHESTER (Noviomagus) | Dorking |
| Stane Street (2) | ST ALBANS (Verulamium) to COLCHESTER (Camulodunum) | ||
| Stanegate | 44 miles 71 km |
CARLISLE (Luguvallium) to CORBRIDGE (Coria) | Along Hadrian's Wall |
| Via Devana * | COLCHESTER (Camulodunum) to CHESTER (Deva) | ||
| Wade's Causeway | Dunsley Bay to MALTON, North Yorkshire | ||
| Watling Street | 200 miles 322 km |
DOVER (Dubris) to WROXETER (Virconium) | Canterbury (Durovernum); London; St. Albans (Verulamium); Lichfield (Letocetum) |
* This is not a Saxon name, but a Latin one invented by 18th century antiquarians to define a putative route
References
- Margary, Ivan D. (1973). Roman Roads in Britain (third edition ed.). London: John Baker. ISBN 0-212-97001-1.
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See also
External links