150 NOTE ON A ROMAN ROAD. 



members of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field 

 Club may be congratulated on being the first to record the discovery 

 of so important a Roman highway, having Badbury for its 

 terminus, the Poole Estuary, and the Via Iceniana for its confluents. 



It seems incredible that a road traversing so many miles of the 

 county, and known to the farm labourer as the " Roman Road," 

 should have remained so long unnoticed. Its existence seems to 

 have been concealed beyond the limits of the farms through 

 which it passed. 



The first record of it, as far as I can ascertain, is by the pen of 

 the late Rev. J. H. Austen in the Journal of the Archaeological 

 Institute in a paper on " Some Vestiges of Roman Occupation in 

 Dorset." Vol. iv., p. 59, 1867. 



" No. 3. This way comes up Donhead Hollow on the north side 

 of the Wiltshire hills from the Vale of Wardour. On the top of 

 the hill it is clearly recognizable by the side of the modern road, 

 which after a short distance traverses it, but after passing Phelps' 

 cottage turnpike gate it follows its independent course in a southerly 

 direction, crosses Woodley Down, where flints have been frequently 

 drawn from it for road material, and, passing through a portion of 

 the Chace called the Wiltshire Copses, enters Dorset, crosses the 

 recently-cultivated Ashmore fields, enters again the Chace Woods, 

 and may be traced a mile further, its direction passing near Barton 

 Field, the supposed Tarentum is towards Broadford (Bradford) 

 Down, and tracing back its direction northward it will be seen to 

 be towards Bath." It will be observed Mr. Austen's examination 

 of the road terminated a mile south of Ashmore, and no further. 

 The Via Iceniana crosses Bradford Down about one and a-half 

 mile north-east of Badbury Camp. Mr. Austen's information is 

 highly valuable, especially with regard to the Wiltshire extension, 

 which he traces to " Donhead Hollow," in the direction of Castle 

 Rings. 



The junction of the three important roads the Via Iceniana, 

 the road connecting Badbury with the sea at Ham worthy, and the 

 newly discovered road indicates the value of the Camp in the 



