ROMAN ROADS

THE FIRST ROADS in Britain were built by the Roman legions, which had their own surveyors, engineers and the equipment they needed for this type of construction work. The availability of local materials dictated the details of road construction, but the basic principles were always the same. The road took the form of an embankment, raised above the level of the surrounding land, with drainage ditches on either side. It would be built up in a series of layers, comprising a foundation of large rocks, followed by smaller stones, gravel and sand laid down in successive layers and rammed into place.

Above: One of the finest examples of a surviving Roman road in Britain, Blackstone Edge, on Rishworth Moor near Manchester, is remarkably well preserved with rain gullies and close-fitting cobbles still intact. Below: close-up detail

Although their primary purpose in the early days of the conquest was to speed the movement of troops, roads subsequently became even more important as communication routes between different parts of the empire. They enabled important information to be passed between Rome and the provincial governors of the areas under their control. In Britain, the Roman economy was agricultural, based around villa estates, which produced surplus food to provide supplies for the army and the urban populations. The roads also made possible the movement of  pottery and other goods, whose production became commonplace in Britain in the third and fourth centuries AD.

Well-known Roman roads include Watling Street, which ran from London to Chester and the Fosse Way, which crossed England from Exeter in the south-west to Lincoln in the north-east. The latter followed a route in use since prehistoric times and around AD47 it marked the first boundary of the new Roman province. Roman roads later became a liability because invading barbarians could travel along them as quickly as the Roman armies. The Salisbury–Badbury road was deliberately blocked by the Bokerley Dyke during a crisis in the fourth century. The roads went into decline after the Roman departure and not until the advent of railways in the nineteenth century did Britain again enjoy such an efficient communications network.

This reconstruction (above) reveals the benefits of Roman civilisation. The central feature is the road which provides easy transport for troops and commerce. The legionary cavalry soldier, accompanied by a foot soldier, is of high status and would have a cohort of legionnaires not far behind him. In the distance you can see the classical design of a villa which represents the beginning of an architecture that was new to Iron Age Britain.