The Planning of Roman Roads and Walls in Northern Britain

John Poulter

• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9781445612096
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

Of all the monuments from the 350 or more years of Roman rule in Britain, perhaps the most magnificent to come down to us today are their roads and the two great walls that they built across northern Britain - Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall in Scotland. Yet, before these vast structures were built, their courses would need to have been chosen and their lines set out across the countryside. In general, Roman literature is silent about how they did this, but recently John Poulter has devised a way of detecting the directions in which Roman surveyors may have been working when setting out their roads and walls. Applying this to Dere Street, the main Roman road from the Vale of York up into Scotland, has led to a radical reappraisal of how and when this important road was planned, and when it was built. At the suggestion of leading archaeologists, John has also applied his methodology to the planning of Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall in Scotland - and, again, unearthed a multitude of surprises for both of these monuments. Not only were their processes of planning found to be quite unlike what might have been expected, but the lines that their designers chose to take across the landscapes offer us new insights into the intended purposes of these structures. In addition to these individual studies, John offers comments about Roman roads in general, and compares them with General Wade's Military Roads in Scotland. He also discounts much previous writing about Roman roads as being too uncritical, and introduces an approach to the analysis of archaeological findings which seeks to deliver interpretations that are as objective and as balanced as possible.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 - Some Characteristics of Roman Roads
• 2 - Establishing Bearings and Marking Out the Line on the Ground
• 3 - A Methodology for Determining the Direction of Planning of Roman Roads
• 4 - Case Study 1: The Planning of Roman Dere Street
• 5 - Findings From Other Roman Roads
• 6 - Loose Talk and Woolly Thinking
• 7 - Comparison With the Eighteenth-century Military Roads in Scotland
• 8 - Some Questions For Future Research
• 9 - Case Study 2, Part 1: The Planning of the Lines of Hadrian's Wall and the Vallum
• 10 - The Analysis of Archaeological Data
• 11 - Case Study 2, Part 2: Interpreting the Planning of Hadrian's Wall and the Vallum
• 12 - Case Study 3, Part 1: The Planning of the Antonine Wall in Scotland
• 13 - Case Study 3, Part 2: Interpreting the Design of the Antonine Wall
• Concluding Summary
• Plate Section
• Appendix
• References
• End Notes