My history teacher at Wyggeston Grammar was adamant it was a defensive structure, not a road. This was back in the late 1960's & to us he seemed old enough to have been around at the time. 😁
@@martynb901 It's funny what people are taught in shool. You would almost think they had some sheme to create a shism between various English speakers.
I drove down fosse way from Leicester to Cirencester a couple of years ago - saw the straight line on the map and knew i needed to drive down a roman road instead of boring motorways! It was beautiful, interesting to know more about it
I've done this, repeatedly and down / up MANY ancient routes. I drove for a living and found that following anything as ancient as a Coach route of the relatively recent past, or older, to the routes [or close thereto] of, say, the Ridgeway, Watling Street etc is a BRILLIANT way to avoid traffic chaos on modern major routes crammed with ALL THAT SAT NAV FOLLOWING TRAFFIC and in the event of a stoppage. If you can navigate without one, or manipulate one to do what YOU fancy, the Sat Nav phenomenon is GREAT for keeping people out of your sight seeing ways around the UK, grinz. Great upload by the way. Thanks.
Sixty years ago my brother drove our family to Cornwall from Hull. He got all the Ordanance survey maps and we went via the Fosse way and saw all the sites of antiquity along the way. It was a wonderful holiday.
When digging a ditch the spoil, instead of being spread around, can be used to create a >45º sloping wall to one side which in effect doubles the height of the ditch. It’s an easy, relatively quick way to create a defensible boundary.
2:00 Hey Paul, you find old cats eyes in places where there have never been paved roads, but filler material has been laid and that filler has come from road surfaces which have been scraped off and replaced with fresh tarmac. I’ve found these on a drive road in Wiltshire that has never been paved, and that old cast iron and rubber cats eye looks just like the ones I found there.
Awesome research and presentation👍 I lived on High street in Ilchester back in 2010 for about a year. High street is the Fosse way as it runs north south through the town. Ilchester is the second most archaeologically important town in England after York. You’re not allowed to dig into the ground -even in your own back garden- any deeper than 18” without a permit due to the abundance of Roman archaeology still buried there. There is also the site of a Plague-pit in town from the Black plague. It is considered that Ilchester was founded in response to a nearby Britons gathering center where the borders of three local tribes met. This site was discovered after heavy flooding, and Ariel photography picked up the low outline of the Oppidium structure sticking out just above the flood waters.👍🍻 From Wikipedia…..’An oppidum ( pl. : oppida) is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town’. Modern archaeology however, considers it to have been used as a Summer gathering place for celebration, trade, etc. hence the county name Of Somerset being ‘the land of the summer-people’.
If you visit the Fosse Way as it runs north of Bath, at the top of Bannerdown Hill, you can absolutely see an obvious agger. The modern road surface is slap bang on top of the ancient road, and is at least a metre/metre and a half above the surrounding landscape. The road called (obviously) Old Fosse Road south of Bath has a clear agger on one side, where the ground slopes down to the houses that line the road, and it's continuation slightly to the north as it drops down into Bath has a clear agger in parts. Parts of the road as they run through Somerset are clearly raised too, in multiple different locations: for example the short disused section that runs through Beacon Hill Wood just north of Shepton Mallet has a slight agger. Hope you found this interesting!
I'm intrigued by this Rob. I know Odd Down well but I have two queries: which is the road with the anger as Old Fosse Road runs at 45 degrees out from modern Wells way (presumably the course of the Fosseway (despite being realigned by a Turnpike); and which route exactly was taken by Fosseway from Odd Down to the Roman Aquae Sulis (was it Bloomfield Road)?
@@johnspurgeon9083 The Wellsway is a modern road, built in the early 1800s, before that, it was just farm fields, called Barracks Farm, which encompassed the hillside up towards the sports ground, and most of what is now the old golf course. The original Wellsway was actually Bloomfield Road, and the Fosse Way did indeed follow the route of Old Fosse Road, before striking off through the fields past Corston View and down through Stirtingale Farm/Road. At least, a couple of academics have made a convincing argument for this being the case: a key part of the argument being that there is an ancient municiple boundary which follows this route all the way down to the river by Victoria Bridge in a nice straight line.
Thank you for this. Whats interesting is that in the much older Welsh mythology and tradition, there was an ancient cultural boundary line which is said to have ran between the Severn and Humber estuaries. With the “Combric” peoples being north of that line and the “Loegric” peoples being south of that line. This was long before the Romans came. Note that in the Welsh language today, “Cymru”, the Welsh language for Wales is etymologically connected with “Combric”. Also England in the Welsh language today is “Lloegr / Loegr”, which is etymologically connected with “Loegric”
Thank you for your message. Offas Dyke has later and in a different position. It ran roughly along the modern Wales / England border. However, following on from the much older Welsh mythology and tradition, where the older line ran between the Severn and Humber estuaries, between the Combric and Loegric peoples. Regarding the later Offas Dyke line, you could possibly argue was a later successor to that line, but in a different location, dividing the Welsh and the English peoples, with Wales in Welsh being “Cymru” (etymology related to “Combric) and England in Welsh being “Lloegr / Loegric”, which is etymology related to “Loegric).
@@martinthomas6295 I’m no etymologist - and an absolute beginner in terms of learning Welsh - but I note in the Welsh I’ve learnt that there are quite a number of Latinate derived words. And I have a vague memory from somewhere of being told that the last places to hang on to Roman cultural & legal practices after the Roman army was withdrawn from Britannia were in Wales. From this, my suspicion is that the ancient Brythonic people in what became the Principality adopted the Roman word for ‘ditch’ to use as their own. Perhaps. 🤷♂️
That is one thing with Roman history in Britain, it will continue to be researched and discussed for years to come. As a kid from Kent we were taken to sites on school trips. And even today Over 50 years later I still have to look at anything mentioning Roman. We know a lot. We still have a lot wrong. More will be discovered and aspects solved. But plenty will remain unknown or disputed given the complexity of Roman Britain. A lot happened in 400 years and Roman society was a complex organised structure fascinating to try to follow.
If the other two Walls are anything to go by ... there would have been a road as well as a wall so it could be patrolled The fact that it doesn't really connect anywhere is the telling feature, it could have been literally a ditch and bank, with a patrol road, and fortlets, to mark the boundary, but did not last as a useful border long enough to get upgraded to a proper wall, proper road (except in a few places) and the forts generally didn't grow into towns ... But a cleared path will tend to hang around and get used just because it's there ...
@@rikulappi9664 Borders, ancient ones in particular, tend to be along geographical features. The Fosse way does not? Did it start at the Severn and end at the Humber? Or, as the maps seems to imply, just ran from one place to another? Why can't it just be a road?
@@I_Don_t_want_a_handle Because roads tend to connect places people want to go and it doesn't really do that either? It seems the Romans sunk a lot of effort into clearing a straight line across half of England, which doesn't connect much of importance and doesn't really follow natural, defensive terrain, then more-or-less abandoned it later before upgrading most of it into a more substantial version of whatever it was supposed to be.
@@I_Don_t_want_a_handle The Romans conquered Britain in large part because of its fertile grain-growing country. South of the Fosse Way is productive arable land. North of the Fosse way is hilly land, unsuited to arable agriculture. How is that not a geographical feature? The Fosse way was first and foremost a boundary road. As the video explains, it doesn't connect any useful places. It cannot "just be a road" for all of the reasons explained in the video. All of this is literally common knowledge.
In the 60s we used to travel along the fossway from Exeter to Lincoln in my dad's Bedford doormobile to visit my mums family, it was an overnight trip in those days
90% of all Roman villa estates lie to the east of the Fosse Way. The vast majority of legionary fortresses, temporary camps, marching camps and watch towers are either along the Fosse Way, or to the west of it. The road is also mirrored by the A38 running parallel to it never more than ten miles to the west for most of it's length. The A38 being even older, linking many pre-Roman sites, hill forts and river crossings. The Fosse makes more sense as an economic / political / social boundary ditch than a defensive wall. Hadrian and Antonine walls follow natural defensive positions, the Fosse is pretty much cutting through open ground for most of its length. Very little tactical advantage to its position. The space between the Fosse and he A38 also separate those parts of Britain that fell quickly or invited the Romans in, and those who resisted long enough to cut a deal. The Fosse Way / A38 run almost perfectly along the main geologic rift in England, with deep alluvial plains suiting agriculture to the east and rockier hill country suiting livestock rearing to the west. Farms are quite easy to bring into your economy by force, each one is independent of the next, you leave them alone and tell them where to send their taxes. Stock rearing though requires many interlocked salient industries - salt (on the A38 at Droitwich), tanning (on the A38 at Worcester), drovers, pens, water courses for animals, abattoirs, people to organise timings. Animals can travel great distances to market so security is an issue (all those legionary forts and watchtowers?). East of the Fosse the local farming economy was quite easily and quickly incorporated into Roman control, in the west the livestock network was a fragile thing, which needed consistency and communications to work well. Best left alone and tax the markets. Those historical cattle markets are mostly along the River Severn and its tributaries, between the A38 and Fosse Way - Litchfield (Letocetum), Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum), Worcester (Vertis), Hereford (Dobunnorum) Chepstow (Venta Silurum), Gloucester (Glevum) Cirencester (Corinium), Ilchester (Lindinis) Dorchester (Durnovaia) Exeter (Isca). More of them retained tribal names in their full titles than Roman cities to the east of the Fosse, while West of the A38 was known as bandit country, often in revolt. Boudicca's revolt being the only major attack on Roman Britain to the East of the Fosse - and interestingly her final battle on Watling Street took place roughly where that road crossed between the A38 and Fosse Way. For many the line from the Severn to the Humber is the cultural and economic North / South divide in England today. This division was here long before the Romans came, and may mark the boundary between ancient British cultures - one agricultural that fell in line with continental practices and one based on animal husbandry that remained more Brythonic.
@@davidrendall7195 Interesting observations and good contribution, however I’m not convinced. Be really great to debate over a pint or two, just not ping pong comments on social media. 👍
I don't think you mean the A38, that runs between Plymouth and Exeter. It is nowhere near the Fosse Way. There isn't really a road that runs parallel to it for a lot of its journey. For the Northern most part of its journey it is the A46 then that runs parallel to it for a section near Coventry. The M69 runs parallel to it for a small section between Coventry and Leicester. Beyond that it becomes the A429 itself for a long stretch before becoming very irrelevant roads and paths between Cirencester and Bath as the A429 divert to go past Malmesbury and Chippenham to the East of the road. South of Bath (if it goes that far - debatable) it becomes the A303 for several stretches towards Exeter, but it definitely doesn't go beyond Exeter to Plymouth where the A38 is. That's just wrong.
@@ChazTB Check any source on British Roads from road atlas to wikipedia - the A38 (also known as the Devon expressway) runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. The original road before extensions in the 1920s ran from Plymouth to Derby. The Fosse Way runs from Exeter to Lincoln. They run parallel to each other from Exeter to Mansfield. There is a stretch of A38 between Plymouth and Exeter, but it continues through Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Birmingham, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The A38 runs about six miles to east of me in Worcestershire and forms the high street of Worcester town, among others, I can see signs for the A38 from the corner of my road. Before the M5 it was the main north /south trunk road in the west of England. The M5 runs parallel to it from Birmingham to Exeter. Shame I can post pictures on RU-vid because the road atlas diagrams of the two roads are pretty convincing.
That was fascinating, and very well filmed and edited. There is so much on RU-vid now, that seems superior to what the BBC do with one chosen presenter for a particular subject and often those presenters use their platforms to promote their own views on Subjects on which they are not experts and only have opinions.
Always a pleasure to wait for your videos every Sunday. I can always be sure to learn something new. I heard the name Fosse Way several times now, but this gives it a completely new meaning now. 👌
I was taught at school, by my then professor of classics, that the legionary fortress in Exeter (built around 55AD) and the line of the Fosse Way to Lindum was indeed the first provincial boundary (thanks to @colcester for correcting my dementic mind - hence my edit). Its linear directness - easily achievable in the lowlands, enabled these two massive forces to manage and quickly traverse the seemingly long distance. Ad altiora!
Nettleton Shrubb, if I am not mistaken? The Temple of Apollo was re-built three times, each time bigger, and the site seems to have been built around the temple. This site was extensivly used by the celts before the Roman invasion, with Dobunnic coins found during excavation. It was originally dedicated to Cunomaglus, the celtic diety of hunting dogs.
@@Swindondruid2Thank you! Whilst many who've not been paying attention think we've never been invaded, unlike those awful continentals, our history has been drastically subverted twice, or thrice if you count the beaker folk (they'd be livid, "Our glorious history of shaping up these hunter gatherers & we're named after our mugs!" 😆). Anyway, I always have a longing to know upon what trajectory we were on before the great changes of 2200 BCE, 43 CE & 1066 CE (No tories! I'll never forgive your hero & surprisingly often, your forebear, William the Bastard! Without him, there'd be no you!) Just what was swept away is so often overshadowed by subsequent events. I appreciate your linking in our history here...
@@Swindondruid2 My commiserations sir. How a family could bear the shame, I have no idea! "I'm descended from the invaders who committed "The Harrying of the North" you know!" is something I'd keep pretty quiet.
In geography we were taught about a line that could be drawn between the mouth of the Tees and Exe rivers. North of this line was rocky upland and south of it was younger clay sand and chalk country. I've often pondered on the effect of geology on the economy and culture of the people.
You are the essence and amalgam of all my Geography teachers. (Yes, I read Geography). Geography is understanding. The dimensions of Geography are unbounded.
One thing is certain; initially there were no trees or bushes lining the Fosse. Probably the ground in the front and to the rear was cleared to a fair margin (as suggested for major Roman roads) defensively. Consider the ditch was dug by Roman soldier to a depth similar to that around the permanent fortresses, then the earth thrown up was formed in a flat-topped bank. Soldiers on horseback would patrol the Fosse, foot soldiers could go on seasonal manoeuvres along its length and messengers go at speed between mutationes. In addition, culverts and bridges would have been built and maintained by the Romans over rivers and streams along the Fosse Way.
I kind of get the idea that it's not one or the other. It's actually both. By building a road you get a ditch, perhaps deeper on one side. The earth moved becomes a road. The road and the ditch become a defensive line. Together it all becomes a boundary with the clearing of the forest. Whoever crosses that line will get punished and perhaps hung or crucified as a warning. If there ever was a wall surely there'd be some remants left somwhere like the Hadrian or the Antonine walls.
We all need to walk more. A family story has it that an ancestor, great grandfather or so, died while on a walk from one town to another in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over a major set of hills. Oh, he was 120 they say (numbers tended to be rounded in the day. Native Americans did not track birthdates as we do!) My dream vacation is to walk through the English and Scottish countrysides and walk Via Appin Italy, stem to stern.
Hi again nice weather you have for this my village was called ffosfelin, so now called tregwyr here in south wales and we had a Roman fort and river ferry boat crossing in Roman time in nearby loughor so we have great history of Roman origin nearby and maybe here in ffosfelin
Interesting. I'd assumed that rather than being a defensive structure itself, the Fosse Way served as a road just back from the frontier enabling Roman troops to very rapidly move up and down the frontier to any threatened spots. Most of the bits of the Fosse Way that I know do not seem to be in good defensive spots. Would not the Severn estuary and river itself have formed a better defensive line for example?
I thought that, if you are going to build any form of defensive line, use the geology. Why start in darkest Somerset when much of the land to the West of the Fosse was marsh and bog and leaving the Mendip lead mines in bandit country. Unless it was a boundary marker between peaceful and non peaceful tribes like the ring of Roman forts near Malton in Yorkshire.
Paul go to Clandown near Radstock. Down the bottom of the village is a foot come track where you can perfectly see the remains of the Roman road. My infants school in the 70s made a film there, as was a short walk from the school.
I understood the Fosse Way was a road to allow the Romans to rapidly move troops along the boundary between conquered Britain and unconquered Britain to maintain their control.
I've always looked at that as the edge of frontier: the Romans got *this* far in campaign season 2 or 3, they stopped to consolidate, and when they did, they built their roads, along the paths the Legions had trodden down, plus roads linking as far as they got along those roads. That theory would, of course, be more interesting if there was a legionary fortress at each crossing point of the Fosse Way.
@@sarumano884 As other roads in the Content also double as crude walls from the dirt removed from the drainage ditch I figure this the same a road marking the frontier and crude wall. Roman advancement better than expected and thus it quickly became not needed and thus not improved.
I always thought it was very odd that the mighty Romans would build a road that ran contrary to the direction if their main power base. Most of their roads expand in a radial pattern emanating out of Dover and anything 90° to this radial pattern of roads indicates some form of barrier or block that was deliberately put in place to indicate a boundary.
Amazing video, there are many instances of roads named fosse way, foss way or roman road further southwest than Ilchester. In fact you can follow the Fosse way on maps and it does in fact line up with many of those roads and follows the path of the A303 for a large part between Podimore and Cartgate roundabouts near Ilchester and Yeovil respectively. I was able to folllow a clear path even visible through trees and slight raising of the land on sattelite imagery, all the way to Dinnington and potentially beyond! Definitely worth checking it out and I live on this potential stretch of the fosse way so I may check it out myself. Also, its weird to think i first started learning to drive on a disused stretch of straught road in Ilchester that once cut towards Podimore roundabout and further. All this time it was the fosse way, no wonder it was so straight haha
The early A46 followed the Fosse Way southwest from Leicester before new dual carriageways were built. Part of an old inner city main route was Fosse Way North and Fosse Way South. The old A46 is the Narborough Road that is a straight route into Leicester. Until the building of the M1 it was a single carriageway road. I used the route, even after it was downgraded, as a direct route to the south of Leamington Spa and the southwest of England.
Roman roads do not appear to have many major modern towns along their routes. Most Anglo-Saxon named towns are just a mile or so of the line of the old roads. The major routes of the Fosse Way and Watling Street cross almost in the middle of nowhere, the surrounding places being small villages. However when the Fosse way reaches Leicester it crosses the Via Devana.
Thanks Paul Always interesting just how much history is still shrouded in mystery. Looking back to when I was a kid and those history books at school, spouting that ALL motte and bailey castles look like this and ALL roman roads were built straight and like this, with artists impressions. So funny now unravelling all those assumptions and leaps of faith.
Agreed. A lot of writings before the Norman invasion have been lost and while we have far more from Roman times then the early - mid Saxon period (and almost nothing before the Roman invasion) there are still huge gaps in our knowledge. That is why archaeologists find so much unexpected things so often, when the written records fail us, the only thing we can do is to dig. School history books are meant to paint an easy to understand picture of each period but people are not simple and just because one castle looked a specific way does not mean some Norman architect didn't decide to make something very differently, maybe to use the terrain, some specific knowledge or just because of personal taste. Roman military engineers did tend to follow certain rules but they still had a bunch of different roads and due to poor translations, most schoolbooks show us how to build a floor inside a building instead of a road. Things built by civilians were far more diverse. So assuming things without actually at least making some test pits to confirm our assumptions do lead to a lot of mistakes.
Very interesting and thoughtful hypothesis. I'm certainly no expert, but archaeological evidence supports the existance of a Roman road - at least for a significant part of its route. Perhaps 'Fosse Way' denotes a route following an existing defensive ditch - a border demarcating Roman-controlled territory.
That would line up with a banking made from the spoil of the ditch to be used for patrol on horseback, or by foot for visibility. Regular patrols would compact the soil to make the higher ground an ideal route for locals in wet weather and poor light.
@@michellebyrom6551 That sounds a very good explanation. And, higher, firmer ground would make it much easier, on a wider trackway, to transport goods and materials. Thank you.
I think the fosseway started at Seaton on the devon coast,it has fosse named places and a roman road from the excepted route of the fosseway,its marked on google earth,i live near exeter i cant say ive seen a fosse name there.there seems also another road that goes to dorchester from seaton.maybe all roman roads were fosseway named originally.
Yes, I live in Seaton and the interesting thing is that the main road into the town from the A3052 is called Harepath Road. Nothing to do with the delightful animals, but its actual meaning is Military Way. There was also a Roman villa on the outskirts and the Romans excavated stone from a limestone quarry by the nearby village of Beer. The A3052 is a major route between Exeter and Lyme Regis in Dorset and you can continue along from there to Dorchester. :)
The Romans didn't really do walls that early - before Hadrian's Wall, there was the Stanegate frontier based on a road with forts. That's later than this, though. Likely to have been a frontier limit for a short period before they moved into Shropshire and Staffordshire and then towards Anglesey. And then kept in use only for local needs, varying over time. But the fact that the line mostly remained visible and in local use means something. Also... Anglo-saxon herepaths (army roads) often remain as secondary roads with few settlements. Maybe like that, for similar reasons.
Yes, the Romans used a road with a series of small forts and/or towers as their normal boundaries. Hadrian built walls in Britain, Germany, and Africa which was a new and odd strategy for the Romans, who believed that their power and influence wasn't limited within fixed borders.
My knees aren't as young as they used to be...and it looks like I'll never make it over across the continent and over the ocean, to ramble through the English countryside. So I'm very grateful to watch your videos, and march on my rebounder. Thank you!
The cateyes were probably are in road planings. i.e. chipped old tarmac that is removed when the old road surface is removed cateys are dug up too. It can be relaid for farm tracks and very lightly used byways.
The way used to be a road, various lengths of it have now been closed to vehicles, hence the surface he was walking on, you could see the width of the road by the hedges either side and the undergrowth filling in between now there is no traffic to keep it back, in these areas the vegetation will now have to be kept cut back periodically just to keep it walkable.
I don't think that the Fosse Way makes the route of a defensive frontier wall. It is far more likely to be a frontier system of a road with attached garrison forts that defined the boundary between the Roman province and barbarian territory. A much better "model" would be the Stanegate road from coast to coast just to the south of Hadrian's Wall. You had a military road defining the boundary which linked up garrison forts along it's course. You can see the same or a similar frontier system elsewhere in the Empire on the Rhine, the Agri Decumates that linked up the rivers Rhine and Danube frontiers, the Danube, the Eastern frontier facing Parthia & Armenia and the North Africa frontier. Yes you did have barrier walls on some of those frontiers, but they came much later in the reign of Hadrian onwards.
Should add that the Fosse Way "frontier", like many Roman frontiers were seen more as a "living barrier" which expanded and creeped forward into "barbarian" territory which is why the Fosse Way seems to have had a limited life as a frontier.
There's a new RU-vid video which features a journey along the complete route of the Seaton to Colyton Tramway. This runs along the west bank of the River Axe while the road on the east bank is the southern end of the Fosse Way. Back in the 1970s, I worked at an electronics factory alongside the Axe at Seaton. I had a journey of about 25 miles to and from work from my home, which was then just off the A303, halfway between Ilchester and Ilminster. Nearly all my route followed or ran parallel to the Fosse Way. At one point it climbs to about 800 feet at Windwhistle, on the A30, between Crewkerne and Chard, before heading SSW to Axminster and Axmouth near Seaton.
0:07 There is a spot on this map. It looks like it is some kind of FX, maybe to make the film look old, I don't know, But I just spent the longest time trying to clean my computer screen, and only just realized it's in the video, not on my screen. It's like trying to clean something off a window only to realize, it's on the other side of the glass.
There is a Trent-Severn canal system in Ontario to guard against US invasion in the 1850s. There are also two Severn Rivers in Ontario, one in the southern part of the Province, and the other is in the northern part of the Province draining into Hudson Bay.
Oh my goodness, I've only just discovered your channel. It is fascinating in every respect. My time for the forseeable future will be devoted to this rabbit hole. Having begun my Utube participation with Time Team I can't think how your programs didn't instantly pop up. This is marvelous giving info & "seeables" for history which has interested me since I can remember. I am a fan!
I've described roman roads as like being the goalkeepers line in football, and legions moving along like a goalkeeper, occasionally sallying forth to deal with restless natives. So it makes sense that they could A. - be a line in the sand B. - actually part of the defence.
Yep I have read several different times that Roman Roads many times doubled as a wall both on the frontier but in the interior in places. I figure as mentioned when you did a drainage ditch making a wall out of the dig not a bad idea.
So in effect, you’re suggesting this was a temporary defended line, in much the same way the Stanegate was before Hadrian’s Wall was built. A very interesting idea. I’ve long been fascinated by the Latin name of this road and the tantalising idea that we might just have one Roman road where their name for it has survived! I must check Margary’s description of the route, but from memory, he does describe some surviving agger in places? Also, doesn’t that very famous picture of a cut section of a Roman road showing layers and layers of resurfacing, come from somewhere on the Fosse Way? It’s great that you’re challenging in this way, Paul.
Yup. I think that highlights how varying this route was and that it wasn't seen as a whole route. Vast chunks seemed to be abandoned whilst the Shepton Mallet bit, repaired for 400 years. A significant defended line is probably all it was, garrisons and forts along it. Though sum suggest much more, but the evidence is significantly lacking.
where I live they've found roman farms on either side of the fosse way, so it was used by farmers to get there product someplace, and some towns have been found on the fosse way but when the roman empire ended the roman towns also ceased to exist, maybe they were trade based towns and when trade stopped they also ceased to exist.
There was a huge backlash against the Romans when they left. Even the new Lords and landowners wanted nothing to do with efficient heating and plumbing systems in their homes. Perhaps in your area, good farmland was claimed by the Romans to feed the troops. That would explain the farms as they existed being abandoned.
was it even Roman? It could've predated the Romans. There are roads associated with the Romans such as the Street that were clearly not Roman in origin, The Street runs parallel to an existing Roman road, Dere Street and the Street connects Iron Age hill-forts, suggesting heavily that it wasn't Roman. Also, you have the Devil's Causeway which connects Berwick with Corbridge associated as a Roman road. This doesn't run into Corbridge but instead connects to Dere Street just north of where Hadrian's Wall once stood. So the idea of Roman roads connecting towns isn't precise. That's not to say it wasn't a defensive structure, just that there are other options to consider.
England like Ireland are full of stories. Every crossroads has a tale. Someday I would like to make it to England as I have read so much about it. My brief visit to Ireland was very adventurous. I drove myself. Do not recommend it.
Maybe not a wall per se. A ditch like this would be defensible, as attackers would be fighting uphill. The straightness means that it is important, and worth further investigation. Very cool video.
There are also at least two very long walls in Russia, the construction of which no one knows anything about. They have nothing to do with the Romans, just as they have nothing to do with modern Russians. One of the walls is between Moscow and Black sea and seems to be there to protect against the threat coming from the Crimea or the Black Sea, or rather to protect the coast of the Black Sea and the road leading to the Crimea from the threat coming from the north. Nobody knows. The other is the west from the Volga. Probably to protect against a threat from the east. It has no connection with Russian cities and fortresses built much later. The wall in the south was last manned during the Crimean War. I saw both briefly in the 90s when traveling in Russia was not so dangerous.
The Romans copied the concept of straight roads from the Celts. They were not boundaries but were an earthly reflection of star systems. A bit weird but would explain the straightness because obviously its going to meet serious obstacles and doesnt follow contours. Anway more conspiracy theories about the Druids being more than filthy long haired extremists as portrayed by the Romans. Incidently it took 21 years to beome a fully fledged Druid and their camps were likened to Universities of that age. All gone now, and no evidence remains. History is almost an illusion.
If any of you have seen M*A*S*H , there is an episode where Burns and Hawkeye are in a jeep and burns sees a sign that says ‘ Do not stop here, you under enemy observation’ so of course Burns says ‘ Stop here I want to take a picture.’
No I don't physically see it as a wall, but mentally the context could be different to the observers of those times, perhaps as some sort of demarcation line.
Wow - as a kid, back in the 50's and 60's, growing up near Bath and The Cotswolds, my family and I drove along sections of the Fosse Way often, which obviously we knew it was Roman built. I loved how straight it was compared with the winding country roads, but never knew it may have had a fortification function.
Another excellent video, thank you. We always look forward to your Sunday offerings. As mentioned before, I still struggle to understand how the Romans plotted an overall alignment. For me, the standard answer of beacons, coupled with the use of the groma, takes some swallowing. For example, standing in Seaton (where the Fosse Way starts, I believe), just how did the Romans get a fix on Lincoln 205 miles away? And so accurately.....
My nan and pops live right next to fosse way , about 5 miles. But weirdly even with my pops being the nerdy history and engineering type, I dont remember ever hearing about it. Come to think, as I was looking around the map more recently I did notice the peculiar straight line road and followed it pretty far without thinking too much (or maybe I did figure it out and just forgot). Now I have a sudden urge to visit my grandparents and explore fosse way with my pops, as he always knows obscure stuff about these things.
Hello Paul - just recently found your page and find your presentation style easy on the eye and ear, and the non-mainstream topics interesting and informative. Cheers!
Not convinced at all. A military ditch that was supposed to do what later walls did would be monumental in size, or pointless. It would surely leave ample evidence today easily seen at least in part by LIDAR. I have never heard of such.
I use this road all the time when I drive between Leicester and Bristol - the motorway is so dull and much further, so why not use the (sort of) straight line between the two cities? My office is also at the approximate place that the route crossed the River Soar :)
Interesting thoughts, but I feel that clickbait semantics are getting in the way ... Is a ditch a wall? Is any ditch a wall? Can a ditch be a road? Can a road be wall? Your ideas may be on the right track, but wouldn't it be best not to conflate terms, or at least use terms that everyone, including archeologists, can agree on to start with?
Another terrific production Paul thank you, I really enjoy spending time with you on these wee explorations. Best wishes from North of the wall 😉 🏴
Have you considered the possibility that Fosse Way was pre-Roman? There is a school of thought that suggests it might have been a pre-Roman route of pilgrimage following the longest possible line across England that heads towards the mid-winter setting sun. It would then have been a prominent delineation for the Romans to use as a boundary, even if it was not a barrier (in much the same way as in the colonial era, the Maasai in East Africa were told to stay south of the Mombasa-Nairobi railway). I'm not sure I subscribe to this theory, but it is sometimes worth challenging our preconceptions! 🙂
Interesting idea but lacking in any real evidence. Romans were known road builders where the early inhabitants of these islands were not. But…. It’s an idea worth looking into. Possibly an excavation looking at evidence for a pre Roman road may help to throw some light on the origins of the road.
Great video, walk and discussion but I’d suggest it is a road and it does link significant settlements of Cirencester, Leicester and Lincoln. There are smaller settlements/ villas along its route, some of which probably haven’t been discovered or excavated fully, but I couldn’t state when each was built to fit the timeline. In addition, it would surely have taken months if not years of work for the thousands of legionaries etc to construct, so where are the forts and settlements for them? In terms of it falling into disrepair at an early time, I fine it hard to understand why because it gives arrow straight access for moving troops messages/ news and supplies quickly from Exeter to Lincoln and the north.It’s an interesting theory I’m just not convinced. 👍
I've heard the Fosse Way might predate the Romans from quite a few sources. To my mind it makes no sense to make a virtually straight defensive line, it would increase the effort by so many times. If anything I think the Romans may of reused something that already existed. Thought provoking video, thank you.
I think they may date from neolithic era, all were known as dyke 's before roman occupation, high dyke at ancaster became roman ermine Street, here's some more dykes Ackling dyke Cleaven dyke Fosse dyke Fleam dyke Offas dyke.
@@peterburgess5974 The Roman army could disregard local landowners, settlements and holy sites and stick to their orders to build in a straight line. A local ruler who wanted to build a road had to take all of those things into account. The straight roads are a sign of imperial power wielded by foreigners.
Another great video Paul, but only if one's interested in Roman roads. Can you please go back to doing all the abandoned stations instead. I specially bought a Jowetts Atlas and magnifying glass to accompany the videos and now you've abandoned the abandoned stations. Disappointed... 🙁
@@pwhitewick Fair play, there's no point in carrying on with something if it just becomes a chore. I'll still carry on watching the Roman videos. At least I'm learning something! 😉
