Details

The monument includes a 120m section of Roman road, 150m south of Park Farm
Cottages, running approximately north east-south west, which is thought to be
part of the road between the legionary fortress at Lake Farm on the banks of
the Stour at Wimborne to the south west and the settlement at Southampton to
the north east.
The Roman road is marked by a raised agger (embanked road), up to 8m wide
which rises to a maximum height of 0.4m above the surrounding ground level.
When first recorded in 1928 a silted up, but perceptible ditch, approximately
2m wide, was recorded on each side of the agger, although only the southern
ditch is still clearly visible.
The western end of this section of road is marked by an unmade farm track
giving access to the Park Farm buildings, now demolished. There is no visible
earthwork to the west of the track. At the eastern end the agger has been
disturbed by a pond and is no longer visible beyond it.
Excluded from the scheduling are all fence posts, and the surface of the
track where it crosses the monument, 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.

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 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 150m south of Park Farm Cottages is a well preserved
example of its class. Elsewhere many of the physical remains of this routeway
have been removed. The road will contain archaeological deposits providing
information about its construction, contemporary and subsequent use and
associated environment.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Margary, I D, Roman Roads in Britain, (1967), 94-95

Source: Historic England