Section of Roman road by Upper and Lower Noad's Copse

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 per day on the network of Roman roads throughout Britain and Europe, changing horses at wayside 'mutationes' (posting stations set every 8 miles on major roads) and stopping overnight at 'mansiones' (rest houses located every 20-25 miles). 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. A high proportion of examples exhibiting good survival are considered to be worthy of protection.

The section of the Venta Belgarum to Sorviodunum Roman road which lies adjacent to Upper and Lower Noad's Copse is a well preserved example of its class. Elsewhere many of the physical remains of this important routeway have been removed. Surviving sections form important visual elements in the landscape. The road will, in addition, contain archaeological deposits providing information about its construction, contemporary and subsequent use and associated environment.

Details

The monument includes an 1100m section of Roman road, running approximately east-west and forming the northern boundary of Upper and Lower Noad's Copse to the east of Lower Buckholt Farm. The road is that which runs from Venta Belgarum (Winchester) in the east, to Sorviodunum (Old Sarum) to the west. For the majority of its course within this scheduling the Roman road is marked by a raised agger (embanked road), up to 8m wide which rises to a maximum height of 1.2m above the surrounding ground level. The surface of the agger is very compact and, in places, gravel road surfacing is exposed. In other places the make up of the agger has been disturbed by small scale quarrying. Within the monument, approximately 300m from its western end, the road varies from this profile in a 40m long section which crosses the base of a shallow coombe. Here a hollow c.3m wide is flanked by low banks 0.8m high. Further east from this point, where the road runs along the side of a slope, the road line is defined by a wide hollow flanked on its northern side by a sharply profiled bank 3m wide and 0.4m high.

The road has been utilised as a boundary in the post Roman period. Its line forms the boundary not only of the woodland but between the parishes of West Tytherley and Nether Wallop. The bank, which in places lies to the north of the agger, may represent augmentation during the medieval period.

The western end of this section of road has been truncated by the construction of a house and garden and the scheduling does not include the surviving heavily disturbed fragments of agger which form the front boundary of this property. At the eastern end the agger disappears shortly before its line is truncated by a modern road running north-south.

Excluded from the scheduling are all fence posts although the ground beneath these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

26794

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Margary, I D, Roman Roads in Britain, (1973), 100-101

End of official list entry

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