5 
At this point the lane is about 18 feet wide, and its surface 
almost level. It is bounded on its north side by a slight 
mound about 5 feet wide and 1 foot high, which is probably 
only the remains of an old hedgerow. On the south there is 
a shallow depression, some 8 inches deep and 2 feet wide, 
between the road and the bank of the hedge. On removing 
the turf a layer of small stones, averaging perhaps 2 inches 
across, was found carefully rammed in and set close together. 
The stones were all oolite, such as might have come from the 
neighbouring fields, and the depth of the layer was not more 
than 8 inches. It did not extend across the whole width of 
the road, but appeared to cover on the average a width of 
12 feet. There were no distinct traces of any other layer on 
which the stones were bedded ; on the whole it seemed most 
probable that they were lying on the natural surface of the 
ground, into which they had been rammed. 
The turf was taken up in four other places. In all of them 
the same layer of stones was found, and it is at any rate clear 
that the grass lane has been treated in this fashion from the 
corner of the lane leading to Kelston for a distance of some 200 
yards to the west. 
This layer differs from ordinary pitching, for the stones 
are not, as a rule, set up on edge. It is not quite modern 
work, inasmuch as in one place the stones were found under 
the roots of a wych elm, which is probably from 80 to Io0o 
years old. Moreover these stones cannot have been laid 
down by private hands, or for the convenience of some farmer, 
as the lane does not lead to a farm, and appears to have always 
been under public control. 
On the other hand the surface is quite different from that 
of other great Roman roads, e.g. the Fosse Road, which was 
lately re-opened by Mr. McMurtrie,* or the road which ran 
between the east and west gates of Caerwent. It differs 
moreover from the road which was opened on Clifton Down 
in the year 1900.+ In this road the layer was composed: of 
much larger stones which had clearly been brought from a 
distance, and they rested on a bed of reddish earth, which in 
its turn rested on a layer 1 foot thick of sandy earth; this 
was not found in the ditch or in the holes off the line of the 
road, and was in all probability the result of the preparation 

* Proceedings of the Somerset Archeological and Natural History 
Society, 1884, p. 76. 
+ Proceedings of the Clifton Antiquarian Club, 1900, p. 75. 
