36 
I purpose to take you for a few minutes on to some of the old 
roads and paths of our own district. It matters little where we 
begin, we find the earliest origin, if not of our roads, of our ancient 
paths, some of which in remote districts have been trodden by 
human feet without interruption for thousands of years. There isa 
right of way over Crossfell top, which has never been questioned ; 
and we have evidence that men have passed that way for two 
thousand years. Until the Roman occupation we had few, if any, 
roads in these islands. The wandering tribes of the earliest races 
were perfectly satisfied to find a track or path through the forest, 
which was all they needed in the way of communication. Watling 
Street, it is said, existed from the earliest times as a highway, but 
this is open to question, as it was probably only a well-beaten track. 
Few, if any, examples of pre-Roman roads can be pointed out 
in this country, although “tracks” exist which have been used from 
the very earliest times, dating in fact from the pre-historical period. 
But as soon as the Roman legions landed on our shores, road 
making began in earnest. They had chariots and wheeled carriages, 
and baggage to convey and take with them, and there being no 
roads, they of course had to make them, which they did. We can 
trace their movements over these islands to-day by the wonderful 
roads which they constructed, many of them serving the purposes 
to-day for which they were first constructed. Notwithstanding 
nearly two thousand years having passed away, they are still 
wonderful examples of engineering skill and human enterprise. 
The Romans gave great attention and prodigious labour and 
expense to the making of military roads. They were too skilful 
generals to advance far into an unknown region without having a 
certain way of retreat if it should be required. It is recorded that 
the Emperor Severus lost fifty thousand men in the construction 
of the great North Road which enters Cumberland at Brougham 
Castle. The great highway was made regardless of the cost either 
of material, wealth, or human life, the natives being pressed into 
the work as well as his own well trained legions. 
Possibly the oldest road in England is the Watling Street, which 
runs all the way from the wall in Northumberland, through Durham 
— 
