ut 



ancient structure of the road has been lost, but after passine; 

 the Smallcombe brook it ascends the opposite side of the valley 

 by a gradient so steep as to be impassable to modern traffic, and 

 being entirely distinct from the existing highways it has come 

 down to us with little alteration from the days of the Roman 

 occupation. This is especially true of the elevated ridge of table 

 land which had to be crossed between the Smallcombe and 

 Midsomer Norton brooks where, according to CoUinson, " this 

 " road for about a quarter of a mile is visible almost in its original 

 " state, being raised high above the side-dikes, about six feet 

 " broad, having a convex surface, and may possibly remain a 

 " monument of antiquity for many ages to come." It was this 

 part of the Fosse which was visited by the Club on the excursion 

 referred to, of which more will be said presently. 



It is to be remarked that here, and indeed throughout a con- 

 siderable part of its course, the Fosse forms the boundary between 

 many of the adjacent parishes and manors, which may be regarded 

 as an evidence of its great antiquity. 



In continuing southward from Eadstock the Eoman road passes 

 through the village of Stratton-on-the-Fosse, to which it gives its 

 name, and thence by way of Oakhill and Shepton IMallet towards 

 Ilchester, but for the most part the more ancient road has been 

 incorporated with the modern highwaj'- and its structure lost. 



I would here notice what appears to be an important error in 



a book lately published by Thomas Wright, Esq., on "The Celt, 



the Eoman, and the Saxon," in which, at page 168, chapter 5, as 



well as in a map of ' ' Britain under the Romans" by which the 



work is illustrated, the course of the road we are considering is 



said to have been from Aquae Solis or Bath to Ad Aquae or Wells 



where it separated into two branches, one of which proceeded by 



Ad Uxellum or Bridgwater to Isca or Exeter, while the other led 



by Ischalis or Ilchester to Maredunum on the southern coast. 



The author may possibly be correct in stating that the road from 



Bath southwards afterwards branched off in the two directions 

 D 



