VOL. XVIII. (3) EXCURSION— FOREST OF DEAN 201 



original soil. It had sometimes been spoken of as a road connecting Gloucester 

 with the legionary camps at Caerwent and Caerleon, but there seemed no 

 evidence for such a belief. Mr Sawyer said he believed that almost the only 

 contemporary information of the Roman roads of this country was contained 

 in the well-known Itinerary of Antonine, of the second or third century. In 

 the 14th Iter, mention was made of the road from Gloucester to Caerleon 

 as passing through Ariconium (near Ross), Monmouth, and Usk. In the 

 latter part of the i8th century, the Deputy-Surveyor of the Forest of Dean 

 said, a great sum of money was spent on the roads between Mitcheldean and 

 Coleford and Littledean to Coleford. These were the principal roads from 

 Gloucester to South Wales. In the " Gloucester Journal " of September, 

 1796, a Mitcheldean publican advertised that the road from Coleford to 

 Monmouth had been greatly improved and " in a short time would be equal 

 to any in this part of the country." He added that he had laid in a stock of 

 admirable port and other wines, and his carriages were driven by sober drivers ! 

 Modern evidence confirmed the description of the route. Recent editions of 

 the ordnance maps described the South-Wales road as having here and there 

 traces of Roman pavement, although difficult to find. If the Romans had 

 required a more direct route, the most favourable would have been through 

 Newnham and Lydney. These considerations were sufficient to dispose of 

 the theory that the paved road which they were now examining was a great 

 arterial roadway. Some mention had been made of Telford and his work of 

 road-making, but this road was evidently made long before his time, and the 

 width might also be taken as a proof of its Roman origin. For what purpose 

 then was it made ? It was probably a bye-road for the transport of iron to 

 the ports. There were other trackways in the Forest in the vicinity of mines, 

 some connected with arterial roads. Mr Sawyer concluded by saying that 

 much of the stone with which the road at Blackpool Bridge was made had been 

 removed by Foresters for building purposes. The Forester was but a human 

 being, and when he found stone ready worked to his hand he was not likely 

 to put himself to the trouble of going to the quarry. Still, though the road 

 was shorn of much of its ancient glory, it remained as a permanent witness to 

 the period when Roman rule was felt as strongly in the Forest of Dean as in 

 the Capital of the Caesars. [J-S.] 



Mr St. Clair Baddeley having been invited by Mr Butt to address the 

 ' Members, said he thought there was sufficient reason for saying the road was 

 undoubtedly made by the Romans. The width was strong corroboration, but 

 it does not appear to have been much used, and it was probably in use only 

 at the end of the Roman occupation. Could they have seen it in the middle 

 of the second or beginning of the third century they would have found it 

 much smoother and better adapted for use. He did not think it had any 

 connection with Gloucester. It might have been used as a connecting link 

 (or bye-way) between the camps at Yorkley and Soudley. The .occupation 

 on that side of the Severn was complete during the last two and a half centuries 

 of the occupation, and there would be no further need of such a road for 

 military purposes.- It might have been a convenience for the people who were 

 dealing in minerals, but the surface does not evidence heavy traffic. All 

 the minerals at that time belonged to the empire and were weighed and 

 stamped with the imperial stamp. The road had nothing to do with the great 

 legionary camps. The only military knowledge they had about Gloucester 

 was that it was given over in the reign of Nerva (c. a.d. 97) to an officer as a 

 reward for services rendered, but the city of first-rate importance in that part 

 of the West was Corinium (Cirencester), absolute proof of which was sup- 

 plied not merely by the great roads, but by the wonderful stone discovered 

 there, with the inscription showing that the Emperor Diocletian invested 

 Cirencester with an importance to which no other neighbouring city could 

 lay claim. The speaker then dealt with the real reason for walling cities, 



