Recent Wiltshire Books, Pamphlets, and Articles. 327 



Wansdyke the course of the Eoman road is in a straight line between 

 the top of Morgan's Hill and the south end of Lansdowne, 18 miles 

 distant . . . Beyond the Calne and Devizes Koad the ground falls, 

 and cultivated land is entered upon, and a hedgerow followed by a parish 

 boundary marks the line, and there is little other trace of road or dyke 

 for ]i miles, when it appears more plainly for half-a-mile to the south 

 of Stockley . . . Hedges followed by parish boundaries continue the 

 line, and looking back from near Wans a straight line of hedges can be 

 seen rising out of the lower ground towards Morgan's Hill. On nearing 

 Wans the hedgerow and parish boundary bend towards the north, and 

 soon the latter is the only trace now left of the Roman road, though 

 Sir R. C. Hoare's map (1819) shows the ridge to within f of a mile of 

 the lane, which the parish boundary joins about 60 yards south of the 

 cross-roads and follows across the Calne road. Then the ridge of the 

 Roman road is plain in the belt of trees on the east of the grounds of Wans 

 House . . . The ridge bends round to the house, and there it is 

 effaced for 200 yards ; but the parish boundary marks the line of it on 

 the Chippenham road ... At the Chippenham road Spye Park is 

 entered, and for about 300 yards, where the ground was formerly 

 ploughed, a low undulation of the surface. is all that remains of the 

 ridge. It then appears plain for ^ mile, five or six yards across the top 

 and four or five feet high, having on the north side traces of a ditch with 

 a ramp or counterscarp outside, showing the modification of the road by 

 the makers of Wansdyke. A steep-sided valley appears to have been 

 crossed by winding up stream and back again to the same line . . . 

 The ridge continues for a quarter-of-a-mile on to another valley, beyond 

 which there are no further traces within the park . . . There are 

 some indications of the ridge outside the park, and in less than a mile a 

 line of hedgerows with remains of the ridge here and there and followed 

 by parish boundaries takes up the same straight line for upwards of 8 

 miles. From Bowden Hill the entire course to Ashley Wood is in sight." 



Sjpeen to Gloucester. This road enters the county at Baydon, where 

 " it re-joins the present road and follows it through Baydon. In the 

 beginning of the 19th century the Roman road is described by Bishop 

 Bennett as presenting an elevated crest raised many feet above the 

 downs in various parts. Beyond Baydon a parish boundary follows the 

 present road for a mile and continues on in the same straight line for 

 § mile further to Peak's Down and then the Roman road is traceable 

 across the down in the direction of Wanborough Plain Farm . . . 

 The road thence turns due N.W., and runs straight for Calla's Hill, 

 \ mile to the E. of Wanborough, and then a straight road is entered 

 upon which passes through Stratton St. Margaret's, to Blunsdon Hill, 

 seven miles distant. On this length of road \\ miles from Stratton St. 

 Margaret, and three miles due east of Swindon Station is the junction 

 of the Roman road from Winchester. . . On Blunsdon Hill there is 

 a slight turn and a straight road runs to Calcott Bridge, near Cricklade. 

 There is now an interval of nearly a mile at Cricklade, in which, how- 

 ever, portions of a causeway across the meadows were dug up at the end 



