PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 131 



visible for some distance away, so that it is a useful land- 

 mark for travellers. Four miles east of it, along a wide 

 road, is Fairford, with its " fair ford " over the river Coin, 

 an important matter in the days when bridges were few 

 and far between. It is therefore very probable that the 

 place once bore a name indicating that it was the way to 

 the easy passage across the river. If this be so, the 

 origin of the name is not difficult to find. Rhydd, the 

 Celtic name for a ford, may easily be corrupted into 

 Ready, and Token is very likely to be a corruption of the 

 Saxon word " tacen," an indication or sign. Ready Token 

 would on this theory mean simply " The way to the lord," 

 and would indicate an origin dating back to pre-Saxon 

 times. 



Whether this be the explanation of the name or not, 

 the existence of the Welsh Way suggests an interesting 

 enquiry. Commencing, as I have said, from the Irmin 

 Street, it ends at Lechlade. Why does it end there ? A 

 second ancient road also runs to the town — the Salt 

 Way, which some say ended at Lechlade, while others 

 maintain that it passed through the town on its way south. 

 A third road passing through Lechlade also merits some 

 attention. If you follow the course of the Roman road 

 from Winchester through Marlborough, you will see that 

 from almost exactly opposite where it joins the Irmin 

 Street an important highway runs northward through 

 Lechlade to Stow-on-the-Wold, where it joins the Foss 

 Way and also the Roman road through Alcester to the 

 Watling Street. 



Lechlade is therefore connected with the most im- 

 portant of the Roman roads in the South of England. Is 

 this from accident or design ? 



In studying the means of communication used by the 

 Romans in Britain, we have not, I think, sufficiently con- 

 sidered the extent to which they may have utihsed inland 



