PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUR 1 35 



of parishes along the Foss Way. This is now made easy 

 by the pul)Hcation of county Ordnance maps which exhibit 

 parish boundaries with hnes of main roads. A study of 

 the maps of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire reveals the 

 remarkable fact that the Foss Way from Littleton Drew 

 through Cirencester to Stow-on-the-Wold, a distance of 

 about forty miles, is for almost its entire length a 

 boundary of parishes. No other main road in the two 

 counties, ancient or modern, is a parish l:)Oundary for 

 more than a mile or two in length, and even this is of 

 rare occurrence. The Irmin Street, which, next to the 

 Foss Wav, is the most important of the other Roman 

 roads, is in its entire course across the two counties a 

 parish boundary for only about half-a-dozen miles. It is 

 further noteworthy that the southermost point from 

 which the Foss Way is a parish boundary is almost 

 exactly where it is joined by the direct road from Dyrham. 

 Was this boundary originally parochial or tribal } 

 If the West Saxons, after their victory at Dyrham, 

 marched over the Cotteswolds instead of up the Severn 

 Valley, they probably did so along the Foss Way. In the 

 settlement which quickly followed, its well-defined line 

 would be of great service in the distribution of the land, 

 and thus it may originally have been a parochial boundary. 

 On the other hand, the Foss Way may have been a 

 tribal boundary. The Hwiccas were a tribe which, on the 

 authority of Professor Freeman, occupied Gloucestershire, 



I Worcestershire, and a part of Warwickshire. The 

 western boundary of their land was probably the Severn, 

 and the southern the Avon. What was the northern and 

 eastern ? The Foss Way, which runs near the border of 

 Gloucestershire, may well have been the eastern boundary, 

 and the Watling Street, from the point where it is inter- 

 sected by the Foss Way, may have been the boundary on 

 the north. 



