InfoBritain

 

Roman Roads

The first roads traced the wanderings of early tribes, but in a sense these are not roads as we know them today. Roads are not the track ways followed by tribes on walkabout; they are routes of two way communication between communities. Mankind is the great communicator and has a hugely developed capacity for language. Roads are a physical expression of our desire to communicate with our neighbours.

The first Roman road represents the first stretch of paved road of any length in the western world. In 312BC Appius Claudius persuaded the Senate to construct a road between Rome and the city of Capua which lay one hundred and fifty miles to the south. This was the Via Appia. Roads of comparable length and quality had been built at earlier dates, in the Persian Empire for example, but the Via Appia was different in one crucial respect: the earlier roads were almost always for the sole use of royal messengers or soldiers, while the Via Appia was available to merchants and civilians unconnected with state business. Communication widened. Each time you drive down a road today, your journey started in a sense on the Via Appia.

Britain had roads before the Romans arrived, in the sense that there were well defined routes linking communities. These ancient routes generally followed the crest of the chalk ridges of southern England. But these roads were not paved. When the Romans arrived in Britain they immediately started building their sophisticated paved roads to consolidate their conquest. The early road network centred on the Roman crossing point at the lowest navigable point on the Thames, now known as London Bridge. The modern road network is focused on London in exactly the same way.

The first stretches of road in Britain linked London with the south coast. If you are travelling south through Kent towards the coast on a long straight road, there is a good chance that you are driving along the course of a Roman road. A clue to the existence of a former Roman road is the word "Street" in the name of the road. Stone Street near Canterbury in Kent is a good example.

Modern routes will often follow the line of a Roman road, and then turn away, leaving the former route to continue on, sometimes as a track, or a smaller road. The B2026, shown here, runs through the town of Edenbridge in Kent and follows the line of a Roman road. Just south of the town the B2026 turns away, leaving the Roman route to continue on its straight course across the countryside.

 

 

Minor road, leading off B2026, following route of former Roman road

The Romans built their roads on a raised bank called an Aggar, to make them easier to defend. Sometimes the remains of this aggar can be seen. The Great North Road near Doncaster follows a Roman route for much of its course. Just before the fork at Burnsdale Bar the Roman road can be seen just to the west of the present road as a huge aggar, thirty six feet wide and between five and six feet high.

 

 

 

 

Oxford Street

If you travel into London along the Old Kent Road, you will travel over the course of a Roman Road for much of your journey. Once in London, some of the capital's most famous streets follow Roman routes: Oxford Street, Edgeware Road and the Strand are examples. Oxford Street was once the Roman route between Hampshire and Colchester.

The first street laid out by the Romans when they founded the city of Londinium, around AD50, is still followed by the eastern part of Lombard Street and the western part of Fenchurch Street. Half way between it and the river a second street was laid out, and its course is now followed by the eastern part of Canon Street, and by Eastcheap. The city grew and some time between AD190 and 225 a defensive wall was built. Modern main roads entering what was once the walled area of the city still enter at the former gates in this wall, at Ludgate, Newgate, Aldersgate, Bishopsgate and Aldgate. In the area of the Guildhall Londinium's amphitheatre once stood. The oval shape of the amphitheatre is still apparent in the curving course of Aldermanbury, Gresham Street and Basinghall Street. In the Cripplgate area a fort was built as a strong hold in the north west corner of the city walls. The streets in Cripplegate continue to show the influence of the fort's layout.

 

The best place to see a Roman road in its original form is at Blackstone Edge between Rochdale and Halifax.