ROMANO-BRITISH NORFOLK 



5. Roads 



In a district such as we have hitherto described, where towns were 

 few and small and country houses rare, we should expect roads also 

 to be infrequent. And as a fact we find but few Roman roads within 

 the bounds of Norfolk. Our antiquaries have not always accepted this 

 view. Like Mr. Samuel Woodward in the map which he drew up some 

 seventy years ago, they have preferred to cover the county with a network 

 of what they hold to be proved or probable Roman ways, and they have 

 not been afraid to add imaginary British tracks. But an examination of 

 the actual evidence yields a different and perhaps more credible picture. 



Our evidence for determining Roman roads is of two kinds, written 

 and archaeological. The archasological evidence is that presented by 

 remains on the ground. We may for instance find ancient metalling 

 along a line where a Roman road might reasonably be expected. Or 

 we may find a still existing track which runs with persistent straightness 

 from one Roman site towards another. The written evidence is more 

 elaborate. Charters tell us of streets bounding estates to which the docu- 

 ments refer. Place-names like Stratton and Stratford, if of established 

 antiquity, suggest ancient and often Roman ways.^ Parish or county 

 boundaries sometimes preserve curious information. But our chief written 

 evidence is that of the Itinerarium Antonini, a Roman road-book, which 

 gives the distances and stations along various routes in the Roman Empire. 

 Its exact age and object are disputed and do not now concern us. Its 

 accuracy, which matters more, is by no means complete, and in general 

 it is perhaps more useful as testifying that a road ran in a particular 

 direction, as for instance from London to Norfolk or to Lincoln, than 

 in telling us the precise distances from ' station ' to ' station.' For our 

 present purpose, the following routes are material. We give the dis- 

 tances as given in the Itinerary, in Roman miles, 13 of which may be 

 reckoned as equivalent to 1 2 English miles. 



1. Route from Venta Icenorum to London : Venta to Sitomagus, 

 32 miles; Sitomagus to Combretonium, 22 miles; Combretonium to 

 Ad Ansam, 1 5 miles ; Ad Ansam to Camulodunum (Colchester), 6 miles ; 

 and so on. 



2. Part of route from London to Carlisle by Colchester, Chester- 

 ton near Peterborough and Lincoln : Colchester (Colonia) to Villa 

 Faustini, 35 miles ; Villa Faustini to ' Icinos,' 18 miles ; to Camboritum, 

 35 miles ; and so on. 



Combining these evidences, let us attempt to sketch the Roman 

 roads of Norfolk. They are in so far easy to describe, in that they belong 

 to one road system, that which served the eastern counties, but our views 

 about them must in part depend on our views of certain Roman roads in 

 Suffolk and adjoining counties, and we cannot limit ourselves absolutely 

 to the bounds of Norfolk. 



1 The name ' Portway ' should not be included among names indicative of Roman roads. It means 

 simply ' road to the town,' and was frequently applied to roads which there is not the least reason to call 

 Roman. 



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