Part of a Roman road 565m north of Abbey Farm

Reasons for Designation

Roman roads were artificially made-up routes introduced to Britain by the Roman army from c. AD 43. They facilitated both the conquest of the province and its subsequent administration. Their main purpose was to serve the Cursus Publicus, or Imperial mail service. Express messengers could travel up to 150 miles (241km) per day on the network of Roman roads throughout Britain and Europe, changing horses at wayside `mutationes' (posting stations set every 8 miles (12.87km) on major roads) and stopping overnight at `mansiones' (rest houses located every 20-25 miles (32km-40km). In addition, throughout the Roman period and later, Roman roads acted as commercial routes and became foci for settlement and industry. Mausolea were sometimes built flanking roads during the Roman period while, in the Anglian and medieval periods, Roman roads often served as property boundaries. Although a number of roads fell out of use soon after the withdrawal of Rome from the province in the fifth century AD, many have continued in use down to the present day and are consequently sealed beneath modern roads. On the basis of construction technique, two main types of Roman road are distinguishable. The first has widely spaced boundary ditches and a broad elaborate agger comprising several layers of graded materials. The second usually has drainage ditches and a narrow simple agger of two or three successive layers. In addition to ditches and construction pits flanking the sides of the road, features of Roman roads can include central stone ribs, kerbs and culverts, not all of which will necessarily be contemporary with the original construction of the road. With the exception of the extreme south-west of the country, Roman roads are widely distributed throughout England and extend into Wales and lowland Scotland. They are highly representative of the period of Roman administration and provide important evidence of Roman civil engineering skills as well as the pattern of Roman conquest and settlement. Despite some reduction in the height of the earthwork through cultivation the part of a Roman road 565m north of Abbey Farm survives comparatively well and will archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, longevity, maintenance, social and economic significance and overall landscape context.

Details

The monument includes a section of the Roman road which ran from Bath to Kingston Deverill and is situated along the ridge forming the watershed between the valleys of the River Frome and the Wellow Brook. The road survives differentially as either a slight earthwork with a flat agger and a buried ditch or as an entirely buried feature, visible on aerial photographs as a crop or soil mark.

A nearby bowl barrow is the subject of a separate scheduling.

Sources: PastScape 1166109

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

BA 20

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

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