ROMANO-BRITISH WORCESTERSHIRE 



on the line of the existing highway, and that line it must be confessed 

 is less clear than it is in the case of the Droitwich and Bromsgrove 

 route. It appears however not to be improbable ; and as Alcester is a 

 well ascertained Roman country town, we may accept it at least pro- 

 visionally. It is often called the Lower Saltway, but again there seems 

 to be no ancient authority for the appellation. 



(3) Worcester to the north, up the Severn valley. Antiquaries have 

 generally agreed to trace a road from Worcester into Staffordshire, either 

 by Over Arley on the Severn, or by Clent, Hagley and Stourbridge. The 

 evidence for the former consists of a ' street ' mentioned in a late charter 

 at Over Arley ; for the second, a road-name, Kings Headland, near Hagley 

 and Clent.' Neither can be called adequate. Likely as it may seem 

 that there should have been a direct road along or near the Severn from 

 the large town of Glevum (Gloucester) to the large town of Viroconium 

 (Wroxeter), we must admit that it is as yet a mere supposition. 



(4) Worcester to the west, Herefordshire and the Romano-British 

 town at Kenchester. An unquestionable Roman road can be traced 

 from Kenchester twelve miles eastward to Stretton Grandison, and it has 

 often been conjectured to have gone on, through the Wyche Pass in the 

 Malvern Hills, to Worcester. No trace however of this continuation 

 exists. It is probable that, if the road was continued from Stretton 

 Grandison, it ran south-east by Newent to Gloucester, and there are 

 some faint indications of it as far as Newent. 



(5) Worcester to the south, Kempsey, Tewkesbury and Gloucester. 

 An ancient paved way, described as ' generally four feet wide, and made 

 of blocks of Has stone set edgewise against each other,' has been traced, 

 and is said to be still traceable, between Ripple and Tewkesbury, and 

 this, combined with the Kempsey inscription (p. 210), and some theories 

 such as Stukeley's idea that Upton was a Romano-British town Ypocessa, 

 produced the suggestion of a Roman road along this line. But Stukeley's 

 idea is a wild fancy, and the paved way, so far as one may judge by the 

 description, resembles far more a medieval path to Tewkesbury Abbey 

 than a Roman road. If we are to look for a Roman road in this part of 

 the county, I would suggest excavation along the line traceable from 

 Worcester by St. Peter's, Timberdine Farm (footpath and hedge), Naple- 

 ton near Kempsey, Earl's Croome, Green Street and Stratford Bridge. 

 But this must be sought by the spade, or otherwise proved by fresh 

 evidence. On our present knowledge we can only say that the Kempsey 

 inscription suggests, though it does not absolutely prove, the presence of 

 a road near that village.^ 



From these real or supposed roads of local communications we turn 



1 Lyttelton, quoted by Nash ; Amphlett and Duignan Midland Jntijuary, ii. 53, loi. The charter 

 mentioning the Over Arley ' street,' is the well-known Wolverhampton charter (Dugdale's Monasticon, vi. 

 1443), which, though professing to date from a.d. 916, is in reality quite late. A charter mentioning 

 a ' micide street ' at Wolverley {Cartularium Sax., 513) is also quite late. Both belong to an age when 

 the word ' street ' had ceased to denote especially Roman roads. 



2 For the localities see the Ordnance Maps of Worcestershire (6-inch), xxxiii., xl., xlvii., xlviii. ; 

 for the probably medieval paving, Allies, pp. 63-67. 



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