70 Some Account of the Parish oj Monkton Farleigh. 



of the Wansdyke or no, yet " as a Roman road we may safely ac- 

 knowledge it and as such Sir Richard Hoare has carefully described it. 



"In 1819 he employed a party of antiquaries and surveyors to 

 examine, field by field, the Roman road from Bath to Marlborough. 

 It is well known that there were two Roman roads from Bath on 

 the eastern side — one to Cirencester, the other to Marlborough. 

 The former, to Cirencester, came along the present turnpike road to 

 Batheaston, and then continued on by the Foss Lane, as it is still 

 called, to Colerne. But it is not known whether the lower road, to 

 Marlborough, issued from Bath distinctly by itself, or whether for 

 the first two miles one and the same road did not serve for both and 

 forked off at Batheaston. 



" If the Roman road to Marlborough issued from Bath distinctly 

 by itself, then it must have come by Sydney Gardens to Bathford, 

 where it must have crossed the Avon by a ford or bridge. The first 

 object of Sir Richard's exploring party, accordingly, was to try and 

 find any trace of the Marlborough road near the Avon at Bathford. 

 But they found none, nor any signs of Roman road up the side of 

 Bathford Hill, until they came to the top of Ashley Wood, from 

 which point they got upon the scent of their game.' 



" Here, says their report, its elevated ridge becomes visible, having 

 a stone quarry on each side of it,^ and forming a boundary between 

 the parishes of Box and Monkton Farleigh. Above this wood the 

 line continues apparent, having an ash tree growing upon it, and a 



^ Whether the Roman road and the Wansdyke are one and the same work I 

 do not pretend to say, but a portion of the Wansdyke can still, Mr. Skrine says, 

 be traced in the [Bathford P] meadows " as the landmark of Warleigh manor 

 against Forde in a field called Ash-Hayes," and although Mr. Skrine would, I 

 am sure, be the last person to pit his authority against that of an authority such 

 as Sir Richard Hoare, yet as a resident on the spot and as a gentleman of re- 

 search he is entitled to be heard, and he says " I believe that the old road to 

 Marlborough went straight up the hill, along Court Lane, and through Captain 

 Pickwick's fields, to the foot of the Common, thence winding up the Farleigh 

 Down. I remember having seen the old road myself, many feet below the path- 

 way and so dangerous to foot passengers that it was filled up by the late Major 

 Pickwick." Bathford, pages 7 and 10. 



^ One of these is called " The Shamble Pits," and never could have formed 

 any part of a stone quarry. — [C. P. H.] 



