Roman campaign roads in Dorset
Excavations February – March 2010
Peter Laurie [email protected]
01305 871131
This is part of an ongoing project by the Dorset Roman Roads group, amateur
archaeologists who meet in Bridport. See www.dorsetromanconquest.co.uk. Our
main aim is to understand Vespasian’s campaign in Dorset. By understanding that
we should also gain an insight into the way of life and war of the Durotriges, his
opponents.
Having assessed Vespasian’s forces and the topography of the county in his time, we
evolved a militarily plausible strategy. We think that, having established a port at
Hamworthy in Poole harbour, defended by a fort1, he established a secure logistics
base at Lake Farm, south of Wimborne Minster, inside the bypass. We think he
probably then advanced up the River Stour to attack Badbury Rings, Buzbury Rings,
Hod Hill and Hambledon Hill. Having established a fort in a corner of Hod Hill to
prevent help arriving from the east or fugitives flying from the west we think he
wheeled left and advanced along the Wessex Ridgeway which ran along the steep
escarpment which leads eventually to Lyme Regis. This took his forces past
Rawlesbury Rings, Nettlecombe Tout, Dogbury and to a position roughly on the A37
at the modern clay pigeon tower.
We think he then again wheeled left to advance on Poundbury and Maiden Castle
from this unexpected direction. Having captured these Durotrigan strong points it
seems the campaign was more or less over. Apart from the known road to Axminster
and Exeter, there is little evidence of Roman activity west of Dorchester. In our view
his forces would have continued along the eventual route of the Roman main road
to Exeter via Eggardon, Bridport, Charmouth and Axminster where the Romans
built a fort at Woodbury Farm. Another detachment would have continued along the
Ridgeway to deal with Pilsdon Pen, Lewesdon Hill, Lamberts Castle and Coney’s
Castle. The two forces might have joined at Hogchester (see below).
On the assumption that the II Augusta Legion built permanent roads as it went, this
programme should have left traces in the ground. However, it is equally possible
that the campaign moved so fast that permanent roads were not necessary and that
the legion’s tactical roads2 were merely marked routes across open grassland or
cleared swathes through scrub and woodland. The Romans would have laid
corduroy roads across swamps but the chance of any trace of tactical roads having
survived is remote.
We also want to investigate the interesting idea put forward by Peddie3 and other
writers that one of the important points about Dorset for the Romans was the long
established portage from the Channel – either at Weymouth or up the Frome from
Hamworthy and over land to Ilchester on the River Parrett. From there cargoes could
be re-embarked in river boats and taken down to the Bristol Channel. This overland
route avoided the stormy and difficult 350 mile voyage round Land’s End. The
Romans might well have relied on it to supply their campaigns in the Midlands and
south Wales.
Excavations
1
The perimeter ditches of the defending fort were found in 2008-9. Reference to follow
John Peddie, Invasion/Conquest p 188 - 9
3
Peddie, op cit p 155
2
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Dorset AONB were generously able to fund us to do 4 one-day excavations. We used
them to test the reality of 5 proposed road sites.
Our aim was to test a top-down approach to the archaeology of Roman roads. We
thought about Vespasian’s strategic options, and tried to draw a plan of the roads
he might have wanted to build to achieve it. Our sites were chosen to be on the lines
of plausible Roman campaign roads, but not to be under modern tarmac and not to
have been marked as a road in the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (dated
about 1810 - 1840). These two conditions severely limit the choice of sites. While it
would have been nice to find a Roman road as a trophy, we also wanted to
investigate whether or not our interpretation of the campaign road system had any
validity.
In AD 9 the Roman army had lost 3 legions, with 25,000 casualties, in an ambush
in boggy woodland in the Teutoburger disaster. We would expect campaign roads to
run along hill tops and ridge lines if possible because the valley bottoms were wet
and wooded during the Conquest period and for long afterwards.
Our digs were supervised by two professional archaeologists: Barry Hennessy and
Stephen Legg who also prepared the technical dig reports which are attached as
appendices here. They both have extensive experience in field work. Stephen Legg
worked as a site supervisor during Putnam’s dig of Roman Dorchester.
Two important lessons
Roman roads are not easy to find
Our experience was that it is much harder to find a Roman road than it was to draw
a plausible route on a map. Bill Putnam, the doyen of Dorset archaeologists, who
took a deep interest in the Roman period and did many digs in Dorset, seems to
have found only one previously unsuspected Roman road here in his whole career.
Bill’s widow, Maureen, tells us that it took him and a colleague 45 years to trace 50
miles of Roman road in Wales.
Recreating the campaign network will be a difficult job. It is possible that the Roman
army was not engaged long enough in Dorset to make it worth building the elaborate
structures we recognise as Roman roads beyond the three that have been well
known since Stukeley’s time 250 years sgo.
Gravel washes are easy!
One other thing we learned this spring was the prevalence of gravel washes. When
the glaciers disappeared at the end of the last ice age, about 15,000 years ago,
Dorset was deluged in meltwater bearing millions of tons of ground-up rock. Some of
this was washed out into Lyme Bay where it was smoothed by wave action and
thrown back on the beach to form the Chesil Bank.
Elsewhere it seems that runs of water down hill left washes of gravel, often with
carved out ditches at the side which together give an excellent impression of a
roman road to the geophysics surveyor and the optimistic excavator.
Denhay
We investigated a prominent track that runs along the ridge NW from Quarr Lane, a
turning off the A35 between Bridport and Chideock. It is shown as a road in the OS
1Ed, running through Denhay Cross and down into Lower Denhay Farm. However
an evident branch turns off at Denhay Cross and runs westwards on the shoulder of
Coppet Hill and then turns northwards to join a road running north through North
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Chideock. With the kind permission of the landowner George Streatfeild, we dug it
on flat ground in between a hollow way to the east and a platform cut into the hill
side at SY 422 958. This section of the track is now a public footpath but is not
shown on the OS 1 Ed. as a road.
Two possible supply routes northwards
from West Bay. The B3162 is more likely
leading to the Roman fort at Waddon Hill
(red shape) which commands the Wessex
Ridgeway (green) leading to Pilsdon Pen
The road platform to the west.
The central section of the left hand route
on the 1st Ed. OS map. The section
investigated is shown in red. Denhay
Cross is at its SE end.
Dig in progress at Denhay
We chose this site because it is on a plausible north – south route running from a
possible supply port at West Bay to the Wessex Ridgeway at Pilsdon Pen. This
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segment was not marked as a road in the OS 1 Ed. map. We know there was fighting
at Pilsdon because a roman ballista bolt was found in the hillfort.
Digression: B3162
Road transport in the Roman world was some 25 times more expensive than
transport by sea, so there would be a strong incentive on the Roman army to use
small ports along the coast as the legion moved westwards. West Bay might well
have been one. The obvious Roman supply road would have been the B3162
running north from Bridport past the Roman fort at Waddon Hill, just south of
Broadwindsor. This runs most of the way on a ridge and joins the Wessex
Ridgeway two miles to the east of the site investigated. Unfortunately it is now all
under tarmac and therefore impossible to dig.
There is, however, a culvert under the road just south of Broadwindsor under the
B3162 at ST 442 027 whose roof is made of flat slabs and might be roman4 in origin
The road runs on a high embankment there. Since the need to build an
embankment could easily be avoided by looping the road to the west to get it higher
up the hill, this does not look like the work of a parsimonious Turnpike Trust or
the County Council. The Roman army with its fort at Waddon a few hundred yards
to the south had the manpower. Possibly they needed labour-intensive projects
since unemployed troops are apt to mutiny. The sides of the culvert are flat faced
stones set in mortar and have a non-roman look, but may be the result of a later
refurbishment.
Culvert under the B3162 N of Waddon Hill fort
The Project Manager of the Bridge Inspection team at Dorset CC has kindly put a
poster in his office asking his colleagues to report any similar structures in the
county.
Back at Denhay:
Although the road was evident on the ground from the cutting to the east and the
platform to the west, we found nothing. There are several possible reasons:
1. The Romans did not have a road here.
2. They had a metalled road, but the metalling has vanished over the centuries.
We think this is unlikely since we excavated down to the ‘natural’ – the
undisturbed land surface.
3. They had a road but didn’t bother to metal it because the soil would bear their
light carts for the short time needed.
4
Davies, Hugh, Roman Roads in Britain, p 98, Fig 44, culvert type (a)
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This last is possible because the landowner, George Streatfeild , whose family have
farmed in the Vale for several generations, told us that before the roads in the
Marshwood Vale were tarmacked, farmers used to use these hill-top tracks to avoid
the mud and potholes of the valley roads. If there had been a stone layer as late as
that we think we would have found it, so we can deduce that since the soil could
support a heavy Victorian horse and cart, the much lighter carts used by the
Romans would not have needed a made road either.
Bearing in mind that the B3162, two miles to the east, was a much more likely
route, if we had found a constructed Roman road at Denhay the implication would
be that the Legion had got bogged down in its fighting along the Ridgeway. Sixty
ballista bolts were found at Hod Hill at the eastern entrance to Dorset; but only one
was found at Pilsdon Pen so heavy fighting there seems unlikely. This seems to be
generally confirmed by the scarcity of conquest period coin finds in west Dorset
So our negative result might indicate that there was no particular pressure on the
Roman army as it fought along the Wessex Ridgeway. This in turn suggests that
after the Romans had taken Maiden Castle and Poundbury hill forts to the east, the
fight might have gone out of the Durotriges and that an elaborate supply chain was
unnecessary.
Whitchurch Canonicorum
The Roman Britain OS map shows a roman road running from Salisbury to
Eggardon via Dorchester and from Honiton to Exeter. Between Eggardon and
Honiton there is a dotted line denoting uncertainy and our earliest intention was to
try to find the route.
One of Bill Putnam’s last digs was at Hogchester Farm (SY 355 947) where he found
what he interpreted as a roman road, evidently branching off the A35 from
Axminster,. The landscape clue that revealed this road to the landowner, Norman
Jones , was the smooth hedge line running down to the Wootton stream.
This hedge line continues on the east side of the valley, running NE up to Conegar
Hill (SY 380 965) where there is an engineered track round the south side of the
hill. It is tempting to see this as part of the missing road. How would it get to
Eggardon? It had been identified in Bridport under West St5 . A possible route,
making use of the available high ground, might be via Symondsbury, up Shutes lane
to Quarry Cross (SY 436 938), down Hell Lane , up Butts Lane to Ryall and then
down to Whitchurch Canonicorum past the church, into which are built a number
of roman bricks. This route is all either under tarmac or marked as a road in OS Ed
1, except for a field just south of the church at Whitchurch.
Topography and features west of Bridport.
5
Margary reference
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Happily this field belongs to Barry Welch, one of our members, who kindly gave us
permission to dig . We had a geophysics survey done by GeoFlo Ltd using resistivity
and magnetometry. A resistivity survey plots the electrical resistance of the ground
at each point. Roman roads tend to show up well because the stone used in their
construction has a different resistance to the surrounding soil. A survey using
magnetometry measures minute changes in the earth’s magnetic field caused by
materials underground. Burnt objects show up well because the heat of the fire
alters the intrinsic magnetism of the object.
Whitchurch resistance survey. The red lines show the expected direction of the
Roman road, the arrow indicates a signal that we dug in Pit 1. We dug the
prominent white area, lower left, as Pit 3. The church is left top.
Whitchurch magnetometry survey: the prominent rectangle on the left side was
interpreted as a mediaeval hall that had burnt down.
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We dug 3 test pits: 1 and 3 on the resistance survey targets. We found gravel layers
in both, but they were interpreted as washes down hill in the post glacial period
rather than made roads. Pit 2 on the NE corner of the ‘burnt hall’ suggested by the
magnetometry survey showed nothing. This was puzzling and the site will, we hope,
be investigated further.
There are a number of scattered Roman find sites in the field to the north east of the
church. We may also investigate further there.
It was felt that the exploration was sufficiently thorough to rule out a Roman road
through this field and therefore down the modern road from Ryall. A new route was
needed, the more so since there are two serious problems with this proposed route.
Firstly it is not at all clear how the gap between Whitchurch and Conegar was to be
filled. There were no signs of a roman road to the river Char in between, or a bridge
over it. These might have been swept away long ago, but even if they existed, we
would still have a very awkward and un-roman corner just east of Conegar.
The other problem is that there is a recognised Roman road to the south of this
route along Stonebarrow Hill which almost duplicates the road found by Putnam. A
workable interpretation ought to incorporate these two known roads. It was also
suggested to one of our members that Carters Lane, which runs east – west south of
Ryall, had long been thought by local people to be roman. We could also take hints
given by parish boundaries6 into account.
A scheme emerged which reconciles these various elements. We posit two roads: one
along the Wessex Ridgeway which passes by some dozen Durotrigan hillforts in
various states of preparation for war and might well have been the principal axis for
the Roman advance through Dorset. We propose to investigate this further.
The other is the main London – Salisbury – Dorchester – Axminster – Exeter road.
They might join7 at Hogchester and run on westwards. ‘Chester’ suggests a Roman
fort and there may have been a police post / signal station at Hogchester (like the
one at Black Down above Portesham at SY 602 880) We plan to investigate this
possibility.
6
After the Roman administration ended in the early 400’s , their roads were the only made roads in the
landscape. They often served as property boundaries. Hedges grew up along them. When the parishes
were first laid out in the 700’s – 800’s these hedges sometimes became parish boundaries and remain
so today. The Roman road from Dorchester to Eggardon is the boundary to a dozen parishes or parish
fragments.
7
See Roberts History of Lyme and Charmouth
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Possible revised Roman road plan for west Dorset. The question is:
did they build a road along the Ridgeway?
Grimstone
Consideration of the attack by Vespasian on the Dorchester-Poundbury area
suggested that Grimstone might have an important role to play as a easy,
undefended crossing point on the Frome. It might also have been the south end of
the Dorchester-Ilchester Portage and so merited investigation. Google Maps, satellite
view, shows what looks like a Roman agger with its side ditches, at SY 639 943. If
this were indeed a Roman road it would smoothly join the A37 a mile or so to the
north west. This might imply that the Dorchester – Ilchester road originally ran from
a barge jetty at Grimstone before the Dorchester fort was built and the road
extended to it along the north bank of the Frome.
We investigated the ground by kind permission of the owner Mr E A Whettam and
his manager Gerorge Holmes. On the ground this bank clearly was part of a water
meadow scheme, probably dating from C18, but we hoped that the builders of the
water meadow had incorporated an earlier Roman road to lighten their task8 . But a
section across the ‘agger’ showed that this was not what had happened: we were
looking at a C17 watermeadow ‘ridge’ that had many of the characteristics of a
Roman road.. However this negative result does not invalidate the general interest of
the Grimstone – Muckleford area and we shall probably return there.
8
As Putnam describes the Roman causeway from Dorchester to Stratton bgeing incorporated into a
water meadow scheme. Op cit p 146
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Grimstone ‘agger’ and dig site
There is a wood, Peacock Plantation, to the northwest of the field of the dig site. An
apparent road platform runs down from the A37 to near the end of and roughly in
line with, the ‘agger’ investigated above. John Surowiec and I put a test pit across
it and found that although there were substantial chalk cobbles a few inches below
the surface, they were the result of frost shattering the underlying chalk. There was
no sign of road construction, so we accepted that Steve Legg’s identification as an
old hedge line was correct. This does not invalidate the Portage idea which needs
separate investigation.
Section across the platform in Peacock Plantation:
frost shattered chalk cobbles on solid clalk
However an extension of the line crosses the Frome (presumably by coincidence) at a
point about ¼ mile away where there is a jumble of collapsed bridges. This is of
interest because of our original identification of Grimstone as a possible river
crossing and barge transhipment point.
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Broken bridges at Grimstone in the Frome. The brick half-arch is of the same
construction as the sluices in the watermeadow where we dug, and may be the return
of the water to the river with a cart bridge over it. However there are other large slabs
in the river her, suggesting other bridges, and they may be here because they
inherited earlier foundations.
Little Bredy
One of our basic, but as yet untested ideas, is that the Roman army might have
built a supply road along the Wessex Ridgeway to support their campaign’s advance
to the south and west by dominating a major Durotrigan route. They might also
have built a road along the South Dorset Ridgeway for the same sort of reason.
There is a Roman fortlet or police and signal post at Blackdown on the road between
Portesham and Winterbourne Abbas at SY 602 880.
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Roads at Little Bredy: those shown in the OS 1st Ed map are brown. Red is a proposed
Roman road joining the ridgeway routes to east and west. The Roman fortlet is the red
oblong; the area geophysed is the blue oblong.
We asked GeoFlo Ltd to do a resistance survey at Little Bredy in the blue area above.
The argument was that the Roman fortlet would be on a Roman road both for
prestige and so that it could be quickly reinforced in case of attack.. This road could
also be the proposed road along the South Dorset Ridgeway. The resistance survey
showed no road but did discover a hitherto unknown round barrow.
GeoFlo’s resistance data laid over Google Maps satellite
view. The centre of the round barrow is at about SY 59736 88866
The Roman road might be under the tarmac to the just to the W of the survey site.
But the existence of a Roman road along the South Dorset Ridgeway is very much
called into question by its complete absence at Bincombe Down in the very thorough
excavations done by the County Council ahead of the Dorchester – Weymouth relief
road. We have to conclude that the rather small area of high ground in the SE
peninsular of Dorset and the absence of hill forts there (apart from Flowers Barrow)
did not warrant the construction of a road along the ridgeway by the Roman army.
Hogchester – Conegar
We saved the most promising site for last. As is mentioned above, Bill Putnam’s last
dig was at Hogchester Farm (SY 355 947) on a site suggested by the smooth
hedgeline. This hedge line continues more than 2 miles across the valley to the east
and round the southern boundary of the mediaeval parish. It seems likely that this
was the line of the roman road he found. Having walked the hedgeline on the east
side of the valley, we thought that an excellent dig site was just to the NE of
Catherstone Leweston House where there is a very visible road platform.
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The smooth, 2.5 mile long hedge line running from the A35 at Westover Hill (left) to
Conegar Hill (right) ‘H’ Hogchester Farm dig site, ‘C L’ Catherstone Lewestone deer
park
Road platform at Catherstone Lewestone looking east – this is
the boundary of a mediaeval Deer Park to the left (north). The
hedge on the right is the ancient parish boundary.
But, on consideration, although there is a clear road platform and a very good
chance that the Roman road passed by, what we see is all mediaeval. The landscape
here was heavily remodelled when the deer pale9 was built. Previous wear and tear
on the Roman road might well have destroyed the agger, while occasional cartloads
of stone shot into the worst of the potholes would have obliterated the archaeology.
We therefore decided to go back to Hogchester, where Putnam had dug and reported
a roman road in 2006. (See Appendix 1) He had dug two trenches by machine:
9
A deer pale is an ingenious one-way valve for deer. There is a bank on the outside with a deep ditch
and hedge on the inside. Deer will enter but find it difficult to leave, so the owner accumulates a stock
of venison and huntable animals. Later on it seems that the same idea might have been used in reverse
to extract deer from new woodlands.
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1 At right angles to the hedgeline on the south side which uncovered a
metalled road surface and a ditch. Putnam writes: ‘It seems very likely that the
features examined do in fact form part of the elusive Roman road running west from Dorchester.’
2 Parallel to the hedgeline and about 10m south, some way to the east. This
was to investigate a small platform immediately to the NW, but found
nothing.
A look at the OS map, 1st Ed10. shows that before about 1840 the access to
Hogchester farm was southwards off the road down Westover hill into Wootton
Fitzpaine. Today it is northeastwards from the A35. Bearing this in mind, it now
seems possible that Putnam found the old farm access road. The first length may lie
over a Roman road which follows the modern hedgeline.
OS 1 Ed map. Putnam’s trench 1 (red) could have found the old access
road to Hogchester farm. Our trench 1, to the north of Putnam’s and
our trench 2 (green) could have missed it.
Our idea was to supplement his work with two test pits:
1. We extended his pit 1 on the north side of the hedge to investigate
whether the road he reported was a narrow one with the hedge on the
north side, or a wide one with the agger under the hedge?
2. Further down the hill to give us an alignment and to try to see if the road
curves round with the hedge or strikes out across the valley to link up
with the Stonebarrow - Margary road – or both.
We dug down to the natural but neither pit showed anything man-made. Although
disappointing, this does not invalidate Putnam’s result. The negative result in our
first trench suggests that the road is all on the south of the hedge, the negative
result in the second suggests that the road had veered away to the south, possibly
to cross the valley of the Char and join the known Roman road up Stonebarrow. Or
that the only road on the site is the farm access road shown above in the First
Edition of the OS..
10
The British Museum’s excellent visionofbritain.org.uk/maps
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But the nearly three mile sweep of hedge, the ridge site, its smooth merging with
the A35 and Putnam’s report combine to make this a very promising spot to which
we shall certainly return to try to find out how the road runs further to the east.
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Appendix 1
Bill Putnam’s two page note on his 2006 dig at Hogchester Farm. It was published in
the Charmouth History Society notes, Issue N0.21 of The Village Echo, Autumn
2006 and in the CBA Wessex News of April 2007, p 15.
An Excavation on a possible Roman Road near Charmouth
The Excavation
At the invitation of Mr & Mrs Norman Jones a small excavation was carried out on
Saturday 17 June 2006 at Hogchester Farm. The object was to test the hypothesis that
the Roman road running west from Dorchester is to be seen under a hedge climbing
Thistle Hill north of Charmouth, from approximately SY 3580 9458 to 3545 9480.
Two trenches were cut by machine and cleaned by hand. Trench 1 ran at right angles
up to the hedge line, but not through it. Trench 2 ran parallel with the hedge line to
test a bank at right angles to the hedge, in case this was a feature contemporary with
the possible road line. For exact locations see the diagrams attached.
Trench I was cut for a distance of 7m up to the edge of the mound which lies under
the hedge. It revealed a ditch at approximately 4m from the mound. The ground
between the mound and the ditch had been carefully levelled with broken stone. Both
this stone and the stone forming the mound (as revealed by badger digging) are of
chert, almost certainly from one of many small quarries in the area round Charmouth.
Trench 2 revealed only a positive and negative lynchet of agricultural origin.
Discussion
It seems very likely that the features examined do in fact form part of the elusive
Roman road running west from Dorchester. A study of the contours shows that the
line of the hedge is skilfully chosen to facilitate the climb of Thistle Hill, an essential
stage to progress further west. The modern turnpikc/A35 does not follow this route as
it has to service Charmouth on
the coast.
The mound itself was not accessible on this occasion, but its surface cross-section is
appropriate for a Roman road. It is made from quarried chert, and is clearly artificial.
Both the size of the ditch and the distance from the causeway arc characteristic of the
Roman road usually called Ackling Dyke, for example in the numerous instances in
Puddletown Forest
and the excavation of 1983 on South Eggardon Farm (Dorset Proceedings vol. 105
for 1983, p. 146.)
It is difficult to see a reason for the existence of this feature other than that
it is the Dorchester - Exeter Roman road.
Bill Putnam
1 Mill Lane, Stratton, Dorchester, DT2 9RX 01305 267269
[email protected]
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Appendix 2
Excavations of the Roman Roads Project: Archaeological Reports by Barry
Henessy and Stephen Legg.
Introduction
Barry Hennessy was approached by Peter Laurie of the Roman Roads Project to
ensure that a planned sequence of test pit excavations were professionally
monitored, recorded and archived. In light of the nature of excavations Stephen Legg
worked alongside Barry Hennessy providing technical expertise to ensure the
successful completion of works.
Four sites of interest were proposed for examination: Denhay Cross (SY 42259564),
Whitchurch Cannonicorum (SY 39749537), Grimstone (SY 63809435) and following
consultation at Hogchester Farm (SY 35599474).
Strategy
Excavations were mainly conducted by members of the research group under the
direction of Barry Hennessy and Stephen Legg. Recording was done by detailed
sketch and observations were compiled in an on-site day book.
The collection of finds involved selective retention of all encountered artefacts. Finds
are listed towards the end of each excavation section.
The test pits were located using a hand held Garmin nuviGPS set up with
EGNOS, and measured in to fixed boundaries where appropriate.
A representative section from each test pit was photographed with a digital
camera, this is the same section that was drawn.
No samples were collected during the course of excavations.
Denhay Cross, Dorset
A single test pit measuring 3m by 1m (lengthwise oriented North-South) was
located on a track way following, and partially overgrown by, an east-west hedge-line
between Denhay Cross (SY 424955) and Coppet Hill (SY 418957). The test pit was
located at SY 4225495646, at an elevation of 145m OD.
The natural was reached at a depth of 0.60m sloping down to 0.76m over one metre
at the southern end of the test pit. The northern two metres was dug to a depth
averaging 0.45m, the natural was not reached in this portion.
The test pit was on the south side of a hilltop (at 157m OD) with a steep drop-off to
the south down towards the River Winniford (at c.75m OD)
The track way is partially sunken into the hillside near the 150m OD contour, giving
the appearance of a shallow hollow-way. It provides a “recent” western spur from the
earlier medieval road skirting the western side of Jan's Hill passing between
Henwood Hill and Lower Denhay Farm.
The hillside lies under pasture, and the track way was also under grass.
(100) Topsoil: 0.20m depth, including 0.04m depth turf line. Unploughed dark
greyish-brown (exhibiting a yellowish hue) silt loam (with a very slight clay content).
Colour is darker at surface level fading gradually with depth. Soft compaction and
consistence. Stoneless. Frequent coarse to very coarse roots were encountered
(deriving from the nearby hedge vegetation). Lower boundary is gradual and slightly
wavy.
(101) Subsoil: Colluvium. 0.30m to 0.56m depth, shallowest towards north.
Yellowish-brown to dark yellowish-brown loamy silt (clay content increases slightly
with depth. Inconsistent colour variation dark yellowish-brown to very pale
yellowish-brown, intermixed appearance. Fine consistency, soft compaction, not as
compact as the topsoil. Rare stones (small) throughout colluvial mass. A 0.10m
thickness intermittent stony zone occurs at the base of the colluvium, lying atop the
north-south downward sloping natural silty clay. Stoniness variable sparse to
common, occurs in the form of a sporadic horizon. Mainly flint, but chert, quartzite
and limestone derivatives also present, average size 0.10m (variable 0.04m to
0.20m). Naturally derived, many showing thermal fractures – glacial/post-glacial.
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Occasional small manganese mottles occur, mainly near stony interface with
natural. Occasional coarse roots from nearby vegetation. Lower boundary smooth
and inclined sloping down from north to south.
Finds were retrieved from this layer. They include Fired Clay, Brick, Pottery
(Industrial White Ware), and coal. They are mainly very small fragments and are
invariably abraded.
(102) Natural: Compact yellowish-brown fine silty clay, inconsistent colour
variation very pale yellowish-brown to strong yellowish-brown. Manganese mottles
occur as continuation of those in stony zone of colluvium, these become rare with
depth.
Whitchurch Cannonicorum, Dorset
Whitchurch Cannonicorum lies within the Marshwood Vale, and the site itself
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lies in the field to the south and south-east of the church containing the 13
century shrine of St. Wite. The postulated Roman Road lies as an extension of Ryall
Road into this field; Ryall Road itself turns at right-angles at this point in order to
follow the outer line of the church-ground boundary line. The field itself slopes from
the east gradually down to the west and is bounded by streams on the north, south
and western sides. Potential building platforms, and other earthworks, are visible in
this field.
The placement of test pits at this site was informed by a geophysical survey
previously conducted by Geoflo.
Three test pits were excavated at Whitchurch Cannonicorum.
Test Pit 1 (SY 3974995377, elevation 47m OD) measured 1m by 1m and was
located to pick up the corner of a potential building identified from the geophysics
report.
(100) Topsoil: 0.24m depth, including 0.07m depth turf line (dark greyish-brown
clay loam). Unploughed (?) greyish-brown to dark greyish-brown clay loam with
increasing proportion of clay present with depth. Colour lightens slightly with depth.
Soft, very sticky consistence, firm compaction. Reddish-brown mottles (iron,
moderate) present mainly along root channels, decrease with depth. Fine to very fine
roots, mainly within turf layer. Generally stoneless, although occasional flints
located at lower boundary. Water table present at lower boundary. Lower boundary
is smooth, sharp, slightly uneven. Finds include coal, and Pottery (Industrial White
Ware). (101) Natural: Strong yellowish-brown clay.
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Test Pit 2 (SY 3977595371, elevation 47m OD) measured 2m by 1m (NE to SW
lengthwise orientation) and was located to identify a postulated track way.
(200) Topsoil: 0.21m depth, including 0.07m depth turf line (dark greyish-brown
clay loam). Unploughed (?) greyish-brown to dark greyish-brown clay loam with
increasing proportion of clay present with depth. Colour lightens slightly with depth.
Soft, very sticky consistence, firm compaction. Reddish-brown mottles (iron,
moderate) present mainly along root channels, decrease with depth. Fine to very fine
roots, mainly within turf layer. Generally stoneless, although occasional to moderate
flints located at lower boundary. Lower boundary is smooth, sharp, slightly uneven.
Finds include Clay Pipe stem, CBM (very small, degraded), coal.
(201) Natural: Strong yellowish-brown clay.
Test Pit 3 (SY 3976395337, elevation 62m OD) measured 2m by 1m (N to S
lengthwise orientation) and was located to identify a boundary discrepancy from the
geophysics.
(300) Topsoil: Variable 0.20m to 0.24m depth, including 0.08m depth turf line
(dark greyish-brown clay loam). Unploughed (?) greyish-brown to dark greyishbrown clay loam with increasing proportion of clay present with depth. Colour
lightens slightly with depth. Soft, very sticky consistence, firm compaction. Reddishbrown mottles (iron, moderate) present mainly along root channels, decrease with
depth. Fine to very fine roots, mainly within turf layer. Generally stoneless, although
occasional flints located at lower boundary. Lower boundary is smooth, sharp,
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slightly uneven. Finds include CBM, Iron Nails, Pottery, Slate; 18 century AD date.
(301) Stony layer – landscaping: Variable 0.14m to 0.17m depth, shallowest at
north end. Dark yellowish-brown clay loam with frequent flint gravels (angular, subangular, sub-rounded; 0.15m average size). Soft soil matrix, relatively firm
compaction. Moderate fine to very fine roots throughout. Lower boundary is clear,
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even, smooth. Finds include CBM, Glass, Pottery, Slate; 17 to 18 century AD.
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[302] Channel Cut: Partially excavated, occurs mainly in southern half of test pit.
Gentle slope angle, smooth, slightly convex, becoming concave towards south. Ditch
or water channel.
(303) Fill of [302]: 0.19m depth. Grey to pale grey silty clay with sparse yellowishbrown clay inclusions. Soft compaction and consistence. Moderate flint gravels,
poorly sorted. Rare to sparse very fine roots. Wetter than overlying deposits. Fill
appears to be water-lain.
(304) Natural: Strong yellowish-brown clay.
Grimstone, Dorset
The site lies some 200m or so west of Grimstone on the water meadow flood plain
of the River Frome. The location chosen was an approximate east-west boundary
between the water meadow fields. It also lies some 300m south-west of the known
Dorchester to Ilchester Roman Road.
Only one test pit was excavated here. It measured 2m by 1m lengthwise oriented
approximately NE to SW.
(100) Topsoil: Slightly variable 0.10m to 0.12m depth, including 0.04m depth
turf line. Dark to very dark brown silt loam. Very fine material, stoneless, soft
compaction and consistence. Frequent very fine roots. Turf line slightly darker
colouration. Lower boundary smooth, even/regular.
(101) Ditch Fill: Greater than 0.25m depth. Dark brown to greyish-brown silt loam
with patches, lenses of water-rounded flint gravels (less than/equal to 0.10m) with
common pea-grit present. Becomes wetter towards base of excavation. Soft
compaction and consistence.
[102] Bank: Greater than 1m wide, greater than 0.25m height. Construction of
bank involves alternating horizons of greyish-brown clay loam (turf averaging 0.06m
depth) and flint gravels (averaging 0.05m depth; sub-angular, sub-rounded, less
than 0.15m size, with sparse pea-grit throughout). Moderate-firm compaction.
Moderate fine and very fine roots throughout. Finds include Brick/CBM of approx.
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17 century date.
(103) Natural: Not encountered.
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Hogchester Farm, Dorset
Hogchester Farm lies approximately one mile west of Catherston Leweston in
West Dorset. It is the site of a June 2006 excavation by Bill Putnam, potentially
identifying a segment of the Dorchester to Exeter Roman Road. It was postulated
that the Roman Road lies below the hedge bank on the hill at this location.
Two test pits were excavated to test/confirm the presence of this road.
Test Pit 1 (SY 3559494741, elevation 108m OD) measured 3.1m by 0.6m
lengthwise oriented N to S. It was located in the field immediately north of Bill
Putnams Trench 1 to find the opposing road surface and possible flanking ditch.
(100) Topsoil: 0.15m depth, grass at surface. Brown to dark brown very fine sandy
loam, with near apedal structure (fine peds occurs near roots). Soft consistence,
moderate compaction. Poorly sorted sparse chert fragments <0.10m size. Root
disturbed from nearby hedge. Bioturbated. No defined turf line visible
(unploughed?). Clear, even lower boundary.
(101) Subsoil: Dark brown very fine sandy loam with common chert inclusions
(angular, sub-angular, sub-rounded, flat, blocky, exhibiting thermal fractures from
glacial/post-glacial deposition; <0.20m maximum size). Mixed appearance, sloping
down from west to east (in conformity to hill slope). Moderate compaction, soft
consistence. Clear, even lower boundary. Finds include Portland chert flakes
(prehistoric).
(102) Natural Deposit: >0.07m depth (not fully excavated). Width >2m. Yellowishbrown to strong yellowish-brown slightly loamy silty clay. Occasional to moderate
chert inclusions (<0.15m size). Very dry, firm compaction (probably due to water
extraction via roots from nearby hedge). Wetter at north end of test pit.
(103) Natural Deposit: 0.18m depth. North end of test pit only (southern end not
excavated to this depth). Yellowish-brown to brown sandy silt with common chert
(,0.20m size) throughout. Pea-grit also occurs throughout. Wetter than overlying
layers, increasing towards base. Very mixed appearance, moderate compaction. Tail
end of (102) interpenetrates. Clear, even lower boundary.
(104) Natural Geology: Not excavated, Drift geology. Yellowish-brown to pale
yellowish-brown sandy clay with frequent chert inclusions (various sizes, pea-grit to
<0.26m). Presence of pea-grit substantially increases. Wet.
Test Pit 2 (SY 3575094611, elevation 88m OD) measured 3m by 1m, lengthwise
oriented SSW to NNE. It was located to the south of Putnams trenches, on the south
side of the hedge (44.6m west of the eastern field boundary), to test the theory that
the Roman Road follows the hedge-line.
(200) Topsoil: Variable 0.12m to 0.16m depth, deeper towards south, includes
0.05m depth turf line. Brown very fine sandy loam, with near apedal structure (fine
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peds occurs near roots). Stoneless. Root disturbed from hedge to north. Clear, even
lower boundary.
(201) Natural Deposit: Variable 0.05m to 0.10m depth, deepest towards south.
Brown to dark brown sandy loam with common chert (angular, sub-angular, subrounded, flat, blocky, exhibiting thermal fractures from glacial/post-glacial
deposition; <0.20m maximum size). Clear, smooth, slightly inclined (north down
towards south) lower boundary.
(202) Natural Geology: Variable yellow and reddish-yellow fine sandy clay.
Occasional to common manganese mottles (2mm to 3mm average size). Some
geological banding in evidence.
RESULTS
Denhay Cross
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The track way cuts into colluvium containing 18 century artefacts in a wormsorted, unploughed horizon. No earlier finds were identified. The colluvium probably
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results from overgrazing in the 17 and 18 century. The track way is thus viewed
as an imposition on this landscape. Studying the vegetation it appears obvious that
the components of the hedge masking the track way are of more recent date in
comparison to the components in the hedges of the “medieval” road, with the track
way viewed as a spur from this road, perhaps for droving purposes. The track way
has been modified slightly for tractor usage, although the track way is currently
“abandoned.” There is nothing here to suggest a Roman Road.
Whitchurch Cannonicorum
The field to the south and south-east of the church shows landscape features
from an earlier part of the village, perhaps late medieval and/or early post-medieval
in date. None of the trenches confirmed the presence of either a Roman Road (test
pit 2) or a building (test pit 1). Test pit 3 produced evidence of water-lain deposits in
a feature which could be part of a watercourse or plot boundary. This feature
appears within the geophysical plot of the field.
Grimstone
The encountered feature is a raised bank separating water-meadow field systems
of “ridge-and-furrow” type. The bank would have provided access to various parts of
the field system and aided as a potential transport route for crops, etc. Its
construction suggests some periodic maintenance during its use-life with the furrow
areas filling up following abandonment. The position of this feature 300m south of
the main Roman Road made it unlikely to be part of a Roman Road network, and no
Roman period finds were identified.
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Hogchester Farm
Out of the four areas detailed for excavation this was the best chance of
encountering a Roman Road, following consultation regarding the first location
across the valley, which was considered a medieval Deer Park Pale. The excavation
concentrated on confirming the presence of a postulated fragment of the Dorchester
to Exeter section of Roman Road following the excavations of Bill Putnam in June
2006.
Neither test pit was able to confirm the presence of a Roman Road in this location.
Test pit 1 was placed so as to recover the full width of the Roman Road by
positioning it on the opposite side of the hedge boundary to Putnams Trench 1. All
of the layers present could be accounted for by natural depositional processes, most
likely post-glacial in origin (“gravel-fanning” of chert previously present as a capping
stone on the hilltops nearby).
Prehistoric flint and chert flakes at the base of the subsoil, coupled with landscape
features suggest that some prehistoric utilization of the landscape may still be
present in the vicinity.
The layering in test pit 2 can also best be explained by natural depositional
processes equated to that identified in test pit 1.
Because both test pits have layering associated with natural processes no evidence
of a Roman Road was recovered. This suggests a re-examination of Putnams 2006
excavations may be prudent, with a view to natural processes.
Tentative confirmation of this was provided by the geological specialism of one of the
volunteers (Graham) who, on looking back towards the top of the hill from test pit 2,
suggested that the “platform” identified as a lynchet (associated with landscape
management and/or ploughing) may in fact represent the upper limit of the densest
part of the post-glacial fanning of chert. Test pit 1 had much deeper chert “banding”
than test pit 2; which supports this hypothesis. Putnams flanking ditch on the
south side of the “road” might thus be seen as a transitional zone between the sandy
clay and the chert gravels – a place which might conceivably provide a saturated
zone of ditch-like construction. Again, a re-examination of Putnam’s 2006
excavations may clarify this.
Summary
None of the locations provided evidence of a Roman Road, including Hogchester
Farm. Further work will need to re-examine earlier confirmations about the presence
of a Roman Road in this region, especially Putnams 2006 excavations. At
Whitchurch Cannonicorum there is postulated Roman brickwork in the construction
of the church. Further Roman finds on the County SMR, and personal observations
by Barry Hennessy and Stephen Legg suggest that the field to the north of the
church, where landscape features also exist, might warrant further investigation. A
Roman settlement in this location may have been fed by a Roman Road.
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