The Roman Road that just Stopped
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- Опубликовано: 6 авг 2022
- Welcome to the Story of Roman Road Number 164. Yes they had numbers! This one is a little bit of a mystery. Whilst the route from Oxford to Wantage was perceived as well known the goal of the video was to see if we could find anything further south and where it may link up to route 41. But it turned out there was another mystery to solve first.
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These videos are becoming incredibly professional, I forgot I was watching You Tube since with this the high quality of presentation, sound, editing and picture quality it felt like a BBC documentary. Great work.
Wantage was the birth place of King Alfred, so would have likely been a very important place even 300 years before in Roman times, great video as usual :)
Oh wow. Did not know that.
it was the site of one of the family’s palaces so was extremely important to the region for several centuries before the Norman conquest, he just happened to be their most famous resident 😉
I was just wondering whether this 'missing link' between the end of the roman road at Wantage southwards to join the other roman road, could have been an already established, more ancient trackway (perhaps related to the Seven Barrows just north of Lambourn). If such a trackway was already there and being used, no need to build a new road? Which could explain the slightly less straight-line aspect of the route.
Your excellent maps and the satellite shots were a great help to understand where you were and what you were looking for. If that Roman road just ended, there would have been something of significance that it accessed. But it sure looks like it might have connected as you suggested.
Sometimes our roads in the USA just end. They just ran out of money and the road, such as it was, simply continues.
All problems with "Roman Roads" ending up nowhere are solved when you realise that most of them were not Roman, but built probably in the Neolithic period, and excavations have shown road surfacing older than the Roman period.
Early Roman engineers found a road system already in place. They merely straightened and metalled them for their Legions to get from A to B quickly. I made a considerable study of this for a degree.
At last, someone who actually acknowledges pre Roman roads. Indigenous roads were ancient before the Romans got here. Good work Mike, but the truth will continue to be airbrushed as the establishment historian's will continue to tell us that nothing happened before the Romans got here and civilized us.
I liked the fact that the RUclips subtitles said you were going to tell us about Roman Rhodes. Nice trip for you both.
Where we're going we don't need Rhodes!
Whoops
Rhodes is all Greek to me.
this reminded me of when Time Team dug up the lawn in Oxford University to find a Roman road that no one had been able to prove existed before that. One of many occasions where I wondered how stuff like roads ends up getting buried so deep underground that you can't easily see they've ever been there.
Wait.... did they find it?????
@@pwhitewick I think so. I know they found a new Fosse Way alignment running right through the hotel grounds in Bath. They also found a path in Cheshunt running through the park. Sorry I do not have the roman map numbers to help. ruclips.net/video/RERCxQkEVNQ/видео.html
@@pwhitewick I believe this is it. ruclips.net/video/RERCxQkEVNQ/видео.html I think it was an Oxford professor, not at Oxford.
I highlighted "Time Team dug up the lawn in Oxford University to find a Roman road" for a keyword search.
THE lawn in Oxford University?
@@spundam I know. It may be a mistake. I can't find an episode for that.
A Roman Soldier was found buried in South Hinksey. They were often buried alongside a Roman Road. It's easy to see the Roman Road veering off through N. Hinksey and along the current A420 across Magdelin Bridge to Headington Roundabout. However if the footpath went through S.Hinksey the Thames only needs crossing in 1 place. The Devils backbone, Lake Street, Eastwick farm and Jackdaw Street all line up nicely for a potential route through South Hinksey to Headington Roundabout.
The current drought is the perfect time to spot crop marks ...
Wayfaring tree (Viburnum lantana) commonly planted near paths
"Wayfaring Tree", Viburnum lantana, a fairly large native, multi-stemmed woody shrub commonly found in hedgerows particularly on the chalk downs of the South. It is a poor coloniser, like "Spindle", Euonymus europaeus so both rarely planted in hedgerows after mediaeval times. Paul, have you looked at Hooper's Formula a technique for dating hedgerows? The well known process devised by Dr. Max Hooper, is based on counting the number of woody species present in a measured thirty metre length of hedgerow ( i.e. age of hedge in years = number of certain woody species x 100). It has been found that 70% of the variation in species content was due to age and not differences in soil and climate. The reasons for this are due to a) Early hedges being planted with whatever could be found in local woodland. (a large number of species). b) Additional species (colonisers) being carried/sown by mammals or visiting birds etc. The method is simplistic, variations within 200 years are applicable and there are of course regional variations but the method does give some indication of age e.g. whether hedges are mediaeval, the result of piecemeal enclosure from Tudor times onwards or post Enclosure Act.
and thank you for clearly identifying the tree/bush species
I'd never heard of the wayfaring tree. Gonna look out for it in future. Might get that book on roman roads too.
Stoney Lane, like Stane Street, indicate (usually) a Roman road, so excellent research as always, I think you are on the right path.
Fascinating content. Your finished production gets better and better. Thank you.
Of course it did.
That was when Caesar declared "This lot are too hard for us, we're off. No, leave it. We're off. What do you mean it's almost finished? It isn't. Now put it down and follow me, we're going home"
Paul - I’m envious of your copy of Margery. Mine is coming apart but is testament to many years of happy Roman Roading!
Really enjoyed that….your way of reading the land is very interesting…thanks for making the effort.
There is an old 'rule of thumb' that says, count the different species of bush and tree in a 100m length of hedgerow, multiply that by 100, and that gives the approximate age of that hedge. So 4 different species would indicate about 400 years old. In my personal experience, it proves to be fairly accurate.
This was debunked many years ago, in National Geographic of all things, and I have read several reports to support it. Some hedges may have been planted with a single species (such as near me in West Devon where there are a lot of Beech hedges) but the majority were planted with a variety of different species.
@@rogerfurneaux1529 Please supply a link to the NG article, I would like to read it. Thnx.
I was speaking to someone at the fishing club. He said, 'I planted the 400 year old hedge over there. 4 species.' So we have to be careful interpreting hedges as many were planted by us as stock proof barriers
Absolutely fascinating stuff, I like your way of investigating relics the Romans left in the landscape. Next time perhaps put a wide-brimmed hat on, all that sun glare a recipe for a blistering headache.
Never plan to finish your Roman Road on a Friday afternoon. First mistake of Empire building.
Thanks again for exploring something I wouldn’t even think about. An interesting corner of the country.
As we are told that hotter weather will be the norm, I can see you and Rebecca wearing large hats etc.☂️⛱👒🎩
P&R >> I watched & enjoyed your good Roam Man >> I grew up near a Roman Road in the 1950 ies Nr Wheaton Aston & one night aged 14 - I had a dream meeting a Roman in an ancient building with a friendly atmosphere who said in the dream come with me I will show you the road I was building & I realized we used to swim in Wheaton Aston brook which the Roman Road crossed seeing the foot bridge in the dream he helped build as it seemed travelers did like to keep there shoes dry. Simple tricks to drill holes in timber. Since then Ghosts never bothered me even on a haunted War Ship. Try it Paul think of where you have been & go back 1800 years. You will just sense things rather than see. Funny I used to always come second from the top of the class in History without trying.
The road stopped at Wantage as the Romans realised they had reached an Earthly Paradise, which it remains to this day, and had no further need to proceed. :-)
...or did they just get stuck in a traffic jam around the market square :)
1:10 _Beyond_ Wantage?! Only the Whitwicks could be so bold! What will they find? Surely not... _Needage_ ?! 😲
Interesting. I read once, I can't remember where, but coaching routes were planted with holly bushes, so that in the winter, when the route was covered in snow, the red berries would delineate the route against the snow. Hence road names like Hollybush Hill etc.
Sounds like nonsense to me. By the time there were coaches roadways would have been prepared surfaces travelling through land that was well enclosed. Probably some local lord, baron, earl, or duke had such an idea for an area but it wouldn't have been general practice.
So so happy to hear you reference BING Maps. Where's ya hat silly boy?
Left it in the car me ole fruit!
From the little that is visible on Lidar, Wantage looks almost a Ferry/Port Town before the Fens were drained.
Thanks Paul for taking me along with you today, the countryside was beautiful ! Cheers from California !
Shame there was no LiDAR for that potential connection you spotted on Bing Maps. It looked like it could be an old hedge line in the way it just stopped halfway across the field. If you’re ever up on the Lancashire/North Yorkshire borders, I’ll show you some great surviving evidence of a lost Roman Road, which I think you’d enjoy.
I'm no engineer but would Scala penetrometer tests serve as a good 'primitive' alterntive. If you know the end of a road but are not sure where it branches off, one could do radial tests from that point. If it was widely used, I wonder if the ground would be packed just enough for there to be a significant enough density increase. Of course if there were stones then this whole process wouldn't be needed 😅
You could probably get lidar from Planet labs or something pretty cheap.
This is my first time watching your vids. Absolutely great! Not many Roman Roads in Australia, so I have to live vicariously. To see and walk these places... Thank you
Thank you Paul and Rebecca for another amazing video! I originally subscribed to your site for vividly bringing to life the old railway lines you have both rediscovered over the years. But I have to say your interest in Roman Roads is just as fascinating. For someone stuck in London, I like to imagine that (in a virtual way) I join you both on your Roman discoveries through South and West England. During many difficult times recently your inquisitiveness and enthusiasm has been - for me and I am sure many people - a great source of positivity.
Thanks Paul, that reminded me of many Scout Hikes and Duke of Edinburgh's Award Expeditions when I was young. 43 now with back pain etc, falling off a bike etc gardening. I'm not enjoying getting older 😕
Haha... well I am past 43!
I'd be happy to hold a camera for you as long as I can have a walk with interest 😁
Thank you for bringing us this very interesting and informative video presentation, Roman Roads are of such interest as many of our towns and cities are linked together by what are, in a very real sense, modern versions of Roman Roads in that the road should link the communities by the quickest route possible. Thank you for the time you go to in recording these important things for the community.
I felt for you in that heat, with no escape! I hope you return to this mystery
I want to get a copy of that book. It's been on my 'want' list for several years.
I live 2 miles from Besselsleigh, just below cumnor this was a really weird episode to watch haha, love it thank you Paul
Rebecca trying to take off The Bangles at the start
Ironically she'd be very happy doing Egyptian history
Having walked up to Jarn Mound in February this year, I can tell you the view of Oxford is obscured all year round! I think I read in a walking guide I was using that the trees were planted well after the mound was constructed in early 20th C. To get the view I was looking for I had to walk a little further to the Signal Elm viewpoint, just up the hill from Chilswell Farm.
Must acquire a copy of that book
Roman roads have always fascinated me.
Margery is not a common book, and the few copies for sale are VERY expensive! I bought the Shires guide by Hugh Davies, but it is very lightweight in both senses of the word...
just at the start of the video - those trees look way younger than 80-90 years, so when first built, I imagine that Jarn Mound was treeless when built so giving a great view.
I see you and your RUclips video have made it into the Roman Roads Research Association Newsletter No 23! Well done!
Ooooh, I will go take a look. Thank you.
Loved it thanks Paul. How exciting to have such history. Just love history. Thanks for taking me along. Please stay safe and take care
I really enjoy your expeditions into the Country. You give such an informative account of your activities. Thank you.
New subscriber.
Your content and editing are A+!
Your videos are so informative, I’ve always been intrigued with roads, rivers and old lost settlements.
Thanks Anne. Glad you are enjoying them.
Very Interesting explore. You are so enthusiastic you draw us in and make it all so enjoyable. Thank you.
Love these Roman road videos, too. Thank you for all your work.
Fascinating! Also thanks for the (re)introduction to Margary and especially how the numbering system works. 🌟
I also find these little side info's (or shall I say "site info's") like the one with the medieval village quite interesting, so please do keep them coming, even if there's no relevance to the video's main subject.
Well done Paul, fascinating as ever…..
Nice video Paul, again... keep up the good work.
Brilliant 👏 Paul
Really enjoying these Roman Road videos, the music really adds to the sense of mystery!!
The first place I saw on the OS map when you headed south was Letcombe Regis, it made me think for a moment that the road simple went there. Maybe the Roman world was simply unfinished, and they put road closed signs up when needed 🤔🤔
Great video. Good luck from Spain!!
Super little video Paul. I’m beginning to learn more about the Roman occupation than I ever did with Time Team! Can see I need to find a copy of the Margary book too. Keep on tracking!
Brilliantly filmed and edited, Paul! Really interesting
Paul, Really interesting. Thanks. Simon T
Thoroughly enjoyed that Paul, thanks and subscribed 👍🏼
Welcome to the channel.
I find it terrifying when we consider what the Romans were able to achieve with relatively primitive technology. What if they had had the technology of today? The mind boggles. Would there be a whole network of subterranean hyper-fast railways? Mile-high skyscrapers?
Check out Tartraria if you want to get closer to the truth.
Yup, a nice totalitarian state, like something happening similar out East!
I expect they’d have us enjoying those jet packs we were promised decades ago.
Having been brought up nesr Oxford, the problem for roads approaching from the South and West is getting across the Thames and its various tributaries. It is a very marshy area. Port Meadow is barely above the waterline and is prone to flooding even today. The two present direct oads from the North into Oxford centre suggest themselves as being the way south - altough they could probably be existing trackways along the edge of the rivers (Thames and Cherwell) - as you say - to a ford (hence the name of the place). Then possibly directly west (botley road) or further south crossing to and over Boars Hill. Indeed, one is tempted to think that, because ot the marshyness of the area, the route may have changed several times.
At the Wantage end, I'm sure you are on to something. Unlike the Romans just to stop.
Onwards, straightforwardly, Legion.
Can we all agree, Paul needs a hat?
...and a fine explorer's hat it must be!
Or more hair. ps I have less, much less than Paul. I live in sub-tropical Qld where hats are certainly a thing. Often you can identify European tourists by their lack of titfer under the blazing sun of summer. I often wonder how long it takes them to acquire one.
Indiana Jones hat 👍
Landsknechts hat!
A Leather cap with studs worn at a slight oblique angle 👌
Perfect… my Sunday evening documentary has arrived 😊
At least three "oh wow, that's really neat" moments in this video. Really good stuff Paul.
You are in my neck of the woods now. Old Street, even older than the romans crosses the Ridgeway above the Hendreds which have very old churches. These are close to Wantage and Old street can be traced back to south of Newbury.
Paul, That was one hell of a quizzical Roman ramble, you're my kind of exploratore. I look forward to your next in the heat (brain) wave quest. Mark
Fantastic aerial shots in this! Really loving the editing, it must take you hours to produce each video from the raw footage. It's highly effective though :)
Thank you! It did indeed take a long time!
Very nice to see you walking round the top of our hill at the start of the video!
Found it by complete chance!
Brilliant and a very well presented video. I find Roman history a totally fascinating subject and your take on it refreshingly interesting. I've often wondered how much we lost after the Romans left and the later Saxon and Norman influence that may have detracted from road building or even maintaining them! Thank god for Macadam!!!
In the U.S. we have a name for the place where the improved road abruptly stops. That's the county commissioners house. Keep up the good work, though!
One thing that fascinates me is that until the 17th/18th century road maps were pretty much unknown - you had to navigate using a written or memorised itinerary (a list of towns to pass through). I think there may have been milestones, but were there any road signs in Roman Britain or did you have to ask the locals at each junction?
I've just looked at the Wikipedia article on Roman roads and it covers milestones, itineraries and even mentions that road maps existed but were a rarity!
For signs and maps to be useful, you have to have a population of travellers who are literate... That wasn't the case for the Britons of the 4th century. Also they need to be maintained (in the case of signs and milestones) and copied (in the case of maps).
@@jonathanrichards593 Yes, that is definitely true. The bulk of the native Britons wouldn't have been literate or needed to do much travelling. The main travellers would presumably have been officials, merchants/traders and the army, where I'd expect a higher degree of literacy. I suspect a knowledge of how to find North, both day and night, would have been common knowledge, which would make navigation easier.
Superb Sunday Evening viewing and fascinating as always. I am soending 2 weeks digging a Roman Farm so very relevant . Thank you but please wear a hat!
Great video can’t wait to see how you get on with the research
If I liked it? Ofcourse I liked this vlog. You do excellent work as always mr. Whitewick and more please!
Nice to see you near Wantage, my home town from 1972 until 2010.
Very Good Paul - Thank you for sharing - interesting satellite images 🙂🚂🚂🚂
Hard to say if it stopped there or not being honest. Reckon they did finished the road great video Paul
That Bing map shows up a lot more than just the potential road - looks like a fort or Roman settlement - the junction would have been a good point to have a rest or patrol from so a fort would make sense.
Late to the Party having only just discovered the channel and bingewatched. Have family that live close to the Wantage to Besseleigh section and always wondered where each end of the road went. Clearly evidence of the road running SW as you have covered but I also assumed that Chain Hill was probably a route which joins with the more compelling Lark Hill, running from Charlton at the Eastern end of Wantage and runs remarkably straight for 3.5 miles up towards the village of Farnborough, afterwhich can trace (albeit less straight) a route down through Snelsmore Common and Donnington connecting to the main roman east west road in Newbury. Think you should explore and make the sequel!
Welcome to the channel! I completely agree. Love this area
i really enjoyed this one awesome video
Nice one, and great to see you in Oxfordshire. You justified a decision a recent walk as well. Jarn Mound was a 20 minute diversion off our route into Oxford. Looking the at state of it and lack of view. I'm glad we passed.
Its a very curious thing!
40+ years ago you had almost a 360 degree view up there and you could certainly see Oxford spires.
the little stretch of stone lane between common platt and lydiard millicent by purton wilts which joins on to the cricklade road [ cirencester ] needs a look at , im sure there are roman villas hidden at the back of common platt , the fox , and the old webbs farm at northern slope by the hidden MOD WW2 fuel tanks , the place is full of stuff i used to metal detect all around there , i lived in common platt so as kids we knew the ground we played on . awesome channel , thanks . secretly i can tell u that ancient celt gold coins were found around that area , long before romans or saxons even .
The Ordnance Survey "Roman Britain" map has lots of tantalising gaps - enough to keep you busy for years! I suspect not much professional archaeological effort goes into tracing the Roman roads - it's mostly down to amateurs looking at the surface features.
Largely correct yes. Owing to the recent introduction of Lidar its that easy. Now is a great time to be an amateur archaeologist, because you can pretty much help the association from your own home.
Thank you for all this.
Superb video as always.
Enjoyed the video as always. :)
great vid paul
Another really interesting video and it seems to be quite often you are left with some unanswered mysteries lately. Where to next week I wonder? Look forward to the next instalment.
To me the arial shot of that field south of Lambourne also shows streets and rectangular outlines in line with the main road (possible Roman town?)
Keep up the good work 👍
10mins 25. Agreed thats a roman town or fort. Im curious if anybody has noticed it before, its pretty obvious in those pics, but id expect the OS maps to show it marked if so.
Came here to say the same. Certainly that image would justify some further investigation.
Brilliant. Educational. Enjoyable.
SUPERB !!!!!!!!! many thanks
Thanks for all the info and insight into Roman roads, you peeked my interest so i went to watch the Channel 5 series on Roman roads, all i can say is they should take some lessons from you about how to make a subject interesting and draw the viewer in. Might go back to Channel 5 just for completeness of the series but will be following you with much more interest....great job 👍👍
There might also be a road connection from Wantage via Baydon to the Roman town of Cunetio (now Mildenhall). South of Cunetio, on the Roman Road though Savernake Forest, the Lidar images also show square shapes that might be lost waystations/
Your usual brilliance. I never cared much for Roman Roads untill you brought them to my attention. Thank you for your beautiful work!
Rumour has it that Rebecca meanwhile is enjoying some Mediterranean sunshine. Who started that rumour? I just did.
This will be a particularly good year for new satellite images.
Hi Paul, first off I would like to say keep up the good work with the videos that both you and Rebecca make, secondly if you look at your video (time stamp 4:11) you will see on the shot of the OS map there’s a village called Wendlebury just off the A34, well in between that village and Bicester is the Roman town of Alchester and not where Bicester now stands
Thanks Dave, yeah I kept refering to it as Bicester, but you are right, Alchester is the end goal for the routes.
Saw you two on New Bridge Road in Salisbury the other day. Would have waved hello but we were going in the wrong direction! Keen to see what that video will turn out to be.
fascinating vid thanks for sharing
Victorian Gate Posts Today : 1 Victorian Gate Posts Total :1
11:30 Stoney Lane, as Stane Street, could be a good indicator of a roman road. If if just ended somewhere might it be be at a fortified town, or port ?
Ooooh like that.
Yes, "stoney - something" is a good indication of a potential Roman site.
For example the area of Buxton, Derbyshire known as "Stanneylands" is one candidate for the location of the town's Roman fort.
The nearby village of Stoney Middleton is also believed to have been a Roman lead mining settlement.
Hi Paul, looks like you have to document all your findings in a book that becomes an update of Margary's old standard.
The RRRA pretty much let members do that themselves.
The concept of Roman roads seems so alien to me that something so ancient could literally be in someone's back yard (sorry, garden). Now if you'll excuse me, there's an ancient Native American town that I'd like to go search for today.......
Yeah; a comment I've seen is that Americans think 100 years is very old, and the British think 100 miles is a long way
Brilliant, thanks 👍👍
Fantastic! These videos are more addictive than potato chips to this Roman aficionado
that substation is 100m from my house! wish i had known you were going to be there i might be able to fill in some details on the railway features there a number of clues still exist.
great interesting video as always Paul and Rebecca , really well done and thank you guys 😊
Superb use of drone technology. Riveting viewing and reasonable assessment.
Thanks david