THE ANCIENT EOADS AND THE SITE 3 



In tlie Prehistoric Iron Age, or that period which im- 

 mediately preceded the Roman conquest, these roads were 

 improved and developed so that they could be used by 

 wheeled vehicles. Sometimes, as in the case of the 

 Pilgrim's Way from Dover through Canterbury, stretching 

 away westwards on the chalk downs to Berkshire, the slope 

 was chosen for the road rather than the summit of 

 the hills. This also is to be observed in tracing the 

 Icknield Way in some parts of its course from near Bury 

 St. Edmunds to the Thames at Streatley, and southwards, 

 until it climbs the Berkshire downs and is lost in the net- 

 work of Prehistoric roads in that county. They also were 

 extended into the low forest-clad and marshy districts so 

 as fo link together such centres as Manchester and York 

 with the surrounding higher and dryer regions. In the 

 Prehistoric Iron Age the forests of the lower lands were 

 disappearing before the axe of the farmers and herdsmen, 

 and there were probably large clearings in the neighbour- 

 hood of the fortified towns in the lower grounds. In these 

 lower grounds it is impossible, according to my experience, 

 to distinguish them from later roads, but when we examine 

 the uplands they are plainly marked by their irregular 

 and winding course, along the ridges, avoiding, as far as 

 may be, the marshy bottoms of the valleys. There is no 

 evidence that they were more than old lines of communica- 

 tion worn by long travel, which may or may not have 

 been mended from time to time. These roads were used 

 also during the Roman occupation, and many of them are 

 still in use. 



The Roman roads were made on a totally different 

 principle. They were not only carefully constructed, but 

 they were run from one point of observation to another in 

 a straight line, and as far as the ground would allow, 

 regardless of obstacles, such as hills and the marshy 



