AN ACCOUNT OF A ROMAN PUBLIC WAY. 529 
that, where there has been a Roman public 
way between two towns, the line of this way is 
generally both shorter and leveller than the road 
now in use. 
As most of the Roman roads have been made 
nearly eighteen hundred years ago, it is not to be 
expected, that, in a populous and cultivated dis- 
trict, many traces of such roads should be left. 
But, it often happens, that, where the traces of 
the road are nearly obliterated, the names of 
fields and places still indicate the line of the road. 
Because the Roman Road was nearly straight, 
it is indicated by Street Gate, Street Fold, and 
Stretton ; and, in Scotland, by Strath. Because 
the Roman Road was hard and dry, it had the 
appearance of a white track, when it passed over 
a brown heath, or over a rushy valley; and it 
is, therefore, indicated by Whitfield, Whitworth, 
Whitley, White Pits, and Wheat Shaw. High- 
gate, or He-gate, is the raised road; and it indi- 
cates the Roman Road. The Saxon word, Waeg, 
is way; and, therefore, the Roman Road is indi- 
cated by Stanwix; which is Stan-waegs, by Wigan, 
which is Waeg-on; and by Wigton, which is Waeg- 
ton. As the Romans had a number of forts on 
