It is estimated that about 2,000 mi (3,200 km) of paved trunk roads (i.e. In their nearly four centuries of occupation (43 – 410 AD) they built about 2,000 miles of Roman roads in Britain. Later, when Roman towns began growing into urban centres, the roads helped in trade and in the daily commute of civilians. In areas of soft ground the road might be built over timber piles and layers of brushwood. Roman Roads in Britain. For example, Stane Street connected the southern end of the Thames with Chichester, which had a military port and supply base nearby (Davies, 2008, p. 15); and Ermine Street left the north gate of Londinium onwards to Lincoln, which later became a colonia, and on to York (p. 16).Davies (2008) says Foss Way (or Fosse Way) is fascinating in that it emanates from neither Londinium nor Colchester, but links the legionary bases in Exeter and Lincoln.Dere Street carried the Roman legions to two important defensive walls in Roman Britain. Eventually a system was created that linked the south coast ports to Hadrian’s Wall and even reached into what is now Scotland.The Roman road known as the Fosse Way linked the south-west with Lincoln, having demarcated a temporary frontier in the late AD 40s when the Roman army paused before pushing further north and west. The core of the agger would be covered with a layer of larger stones, if available, with the upper surface being formed from layers of smaller stones or gravel.The full ‘road zone’ could be defined by ditches set some distance from the road, providing drainage and possibly space for pedestrians and animals.The width of roads varied from about 5 metres to more than 10 metres. Camulos was a Celtic god that the Romans equated with their war god, Mars.To get to Colchester from where they were beached at Richborough, the Roman troops had to move up the Thames, establish a crossing, and turn north-east (Davies, 2008, p. 11).This meant they had to build roads, and the road they built to reach the Thames is today known as Watling Street.The tribes had settled and lived in Britain for centuries, but the existing paths they used did not suit the Roman army’s needs. A writing tablet from Vindolanda fort near Hadrian’s Wall records delays in receiving supplies of hide from Catterick because of the poor state of the roads.But away from the engineered roads built by the army, much of the population would have relied on tracks that wound between fields, often following routes established centuries before. The Romans also set up milestones, inscribed with the name of the emperor (p. 30). Well-known Roman roads include Watling Street, which ran from London to Chester and the Fosse Way, which crossed England from Exeter in the south-west to Lincoln in the north-east. Later, when Roman towns began growing into urban centres, the roads helped in trade and in the daily commute of civilians. Roman roads in Britain have been a subject of fascination for hundreds of years. How, where and why a vast network of roads was built over the length and breadth of Roman Britain.Following the Roman invasion of Britain under the Emperor Claudius in AD 43, the Roman army oversaw the rapid construction of a network of new roads. What we know of them we know from Roman and other historical records, where they were mentioned from around the year 300 to the year 900, after which they might have merged with other cultures.In 140 AD, Hadrian’s successor, Emperor Antoninus Pius, Before the Romans abandoned Britannia around 410 AD, they had managed to replace the muddy tracks all over the island with more than But resistance persisted throughout Roman rule, with some even instigated by the Romans The garrison in Britain responded with a rebellion and proclaimed their own emperor, the general Constantine III. Some were far less well constructed than roads of the type described above. Before the Romans, the roads were just dirt tracks with mounds and potholes that injured unsuspecting travelers and broke many a cart. The Corbridge Lion and Changing Beliefs in Roman Britain The Mysterious Absence of Stables at Roman Cavalry Forts Votive Body-Parts, Eye Infections and Roman Healing You are using an old version of Internet Explorer. The latter followed a route in use since prehistoric times and around AD47 it marked the … The Roman road known as the Fosse Way linked the south-west with Lincoln, having demarcated a temporary frontier in the late AD 40s when the Roman army paused before pushing further north and west. 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