Roman road immediately south east of Buckholt 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 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 Roman road immediately south east of Buckholt Farm, despite being reduced in height by ploughing, will contain archaeological deposits providing information relating to the Roman environment.

Details

The monument includes an 800m section of the Roman road from Winchester to Old Sarum, between Buckholt Farm and eastwards to the Turnpike. The road is included in the Antonine Itinerary, and this section may lie close to `Brige', an intermediate station recorded as lying 11 miles from Winchester. Roman surface finds suggest that the site of this station lies about 700m to the east of the monument.

At the eastern end of this section of road the agger can be seen as a bank 4m wide and a maximum of 0.7m high, with an additional gravelly spread on its southern side, extending west for 100m. To the west the road is visible for a distance of approximately 700m as a gravelly soil mark, most marked after cultivation. There are no signs of ditches flanking the agger. The line of the road is continued to the east by a hedge line which incorporates a parish boundary. The bank and ditch which mark this cannot be conclusively proved to incorporate elements of the Roman road and are therefore not included in the scheduling.

A field system, visible on aerial photographs, lying adjacent to the northern side of the road near the eastern end of the monument cannot be verified on the ground and is also not included in the scheduling. A section of the same road 1.2km to the west forms the subject of a separate scheduling. All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them 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:

26809

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Margary, I D, Roman Roads in Britain, (1955), 92-93

End of official list entry

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