Location :
Bath and North East Somerset, Wiltshire, West Berkshire
Kintbury, Welford, Bishops Cannings, Froxfield, Calne Without, Bromham, Melksham Without, Heddington, Bathford, Corsham, Preshute, Marlborough, Fyfield, West Overton, Savernake, Avebury, Mildenhall, Little Bedwyn, Ramsbury, Lacock, South Wraxall, Box, Hungerford, Atworth, Monkton Farleigh
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More information : (SU 4060 7106 - ST 8250 6660) (1)
Roman Road 53: Wickham to Batheaston. Extant remains of this road are intermittent and can be seen in places as sections of fine agger. On other parts of the route the course of the road is marked by a striking alignment of hedgerows usually followed by a parish boundary. (2)
For full details see Linear archive.
Section of Roman Road from SU 07606835 to SU 07926837 Scheduled 28108.(3)
The agger of a Roman road was seen as an earthwork on 2006 lidar survey. The section was mapped and recorded between SU 0878 6842 and SU 0946 6845 (4)
The earthwork remains of the Roman Road from Wickham to Batheaston can be on lidar images running west to east through the parishes of Lacock, Melksham Without, and Bromham. It is visible as either a bank, or on the slopes as a hollow way. The remains are fragmentary and the course of the road across Bowden Hill has been obscured due to natural slumping. The most uninterrupted line of the road in this area is centred at ST 9341 6734, where the earthworks of the road appear as a hollow way as the gradient increases heading east. This is visible for c.450m with earthwork banks of the road at either end. The earthworks are not visible again to the east for another c.780m where natural slumping has obscured the course of the road, after which additional hollows and banks are visible on the assumed course of the road centred at ST 9484 6745. (5-6)
Parts of the course of the road can be seen as an earthwork on aerial photographs and lidar images as a broad bank incorporated into the parish boundary between Heddington and Calne WIthout and subsequent hedgelines. A number of embanked fields containing medieval or later ridge and furrow flank this linear boundary where it passes through Heddington and Calne Without. Further west where the course of the road passes through the parkland of Spye Park, a number of former quarries have been noted flanking the road. It is possible that at least some of these quarries were contemporary with the construction of the road.(7-8)
The course of the road can be seen as a slight earthwork in variable states of preservation descending westwards into the valley of the River Avon to a crossing point 1km to the south of the village of Lacock. (9-11)
Air photos taken in 1988 show what may be the slight earthwork remains of three seperate lengths of the road within Neston Park. These were at ST 8606 6685, ST 8640 6687 and ST 8671 6688. Air photos taken in 2009 suggest that the most westerly of these earthworks may still survive. The parkland that contains the central section has been ploughed and appears levelled, although two trees plante donthe bank almost at opposite ends survive and may preserve the earthwork at those points. Only part of the third section is depicted by the Ordnance Survey and the eastern continuation suggested by the air photos may actually be the result of the line of the Roman road being used as a field and parish boundary. (12-13)
Air photos taken in 2012 show the cropmark of a possible part of the Roman road north of Beanacre at ST 9033 6713. It is approximately aligned on the course of the Roman road but although the parish boundary generally follows the road, at this point it turns to run further south before turning north again. (14)
The course of the Roman road survives as an earthwork to the north of Heddington Wick village.It consists of a spread bank, c10m wide and c0.5m high, with a re-cut ditch on its northern side. South of Chapel Knapp a field boundary straddles the agger, which remains 10m wide. Soil creep from, probably medieval, ploughing masks its edges and centuries of re-use as a boundary have destroyed any visible earthwork relationships between the road and the field system..Romano-British pottery was visible in the agger bank where it is cut by a pond in the corner of the field. (15) |