Summary

Section of Roman road 100m south-south-east of Mutton's Farmhouse.

Source: Historic England

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS

The monument includes the earthworks and buried archaeological deposits of a section of the Roman road known as Greensand Way, located at NGR TQ 1189 1485 centre around 100m south-south-east of Mutton's Farmhouse (listed at Grade II, NHLE 1353958) in a small copse.

DESCRIPTION

The surviving earthworks of section of the road are most evident in a small copse next to the byway where they are covered with small trees and shrubs. The earthworks represent the agger of the road approximately 4m wide, with roadside ditches of approximately 1.25-1.50m wide to either side. No road surfaces are apparent, but will survive as buried features.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING

The scheduled area measures 105m east-west and 12m wide north-south. The monument is immediately to the south of a bridleway next to the copse on land which rises to the east. It extends from the property boundary of the house known as Highfield in the east, westwards to the point when the copse has been disturbed, approximately 14m to the east of the property boundary of Cartways Cottage. The land to the south is under pasture. The copse has a post and wire fence to the north and south which is excluded from the scheduling although the land beneath is included.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The section of Roman road, part of the Greensand Way, 100m south-south-east of Mutton's Farmhouse, near Rock, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: the earthworks of the road's agger are apparent and the buried deposits of the road and roadside ditches will survive beneath;

* Potential: the earthworks and buried deposits have the potential to inform on the construction, form and date of the road, and contain artefacts and ecofacts;

* Documentation: as a section of route 140 identified, catalogued and published by Ivan Margary in his seminal work on Roman roads in Britain;

* Rarity: around 9,500 miles of Roman road were thought to have been built during the Roman occupation, but a smaller proportion is known to survive physically and few are scheduled;

* Vulnerability; much of this route has been lost to modern housing, roads and commercial activity. Protecting this section will ensure its preservation for the future.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Margary, I D, Roman Roads in Britain, (1973), 63-70
Millum, D, 'What did Ivan Margary ever do for me? An excavation of the Roman Greensand Way at Plumpton' in Sussex Archaeological Collections, , Vol. 149, (2011), 25-34
Milner-Gulland, R, 'The Washington Estate: New Evidence on an Ancient Boundary' in Sussex Archaeological Collections, , Vol. 143, (2005), 1-8
Other
MA Dissertation by Robert Wallace (2007) 'A previously unknown Roman road: Offham to the Greensand Way, Barcombe Mills'

Source: Historic England