Summary

Length of Roman road on Eye Mead 560m south east of Court House.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 15 February 2016. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

This monument includes a length of Roman road situated on the floodplain of the River Stour. The road survives as a flat topped causeway across generally marshy land which measures up to 4m wide and 0.4m high with buried side ditches and which fades into a buried feature at either end. It is part of a road which ran from Badbury Rings to Poole. It is closely associated with a separately scheduled Roman military site.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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. The length of Roman road on Eye Mead 560m south east of Court House survives well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, longevity, maintenance, abandonment, military, political and economic significance and overall landscape context.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PastScape 1357593

Source: Historic England