The Roman Roads of Ribchester
Features of a Roman Road.
How do you know where to look?
Placenames can be a clue. The word "street" is an Anglo-Saxon word derived from the Latin "strata" and refers to the layers of stones used in the construction of a Roman road. There are many villages in England named Street and they are almost all on, or close to, the course of a Roman road. Street in Lancashire is on the course of the road from Ribchester to Lancaster. Other names derived from street are Stretford (where a Roman road fords a river), and Streatham (the village on the Roman road).
The word "gate" is derived from the Norse "gata", meaning road. Combined with the word "stone", or some derivation of it (e.g. Stonegate, Stangate, Stoneygate), it can be a clue to the Roman origins of a road. Thus, Stoneygate Lane refers to a stone road, not a stone gate.
Maps. When the first Ordnance Survey maps were produced in the 19th century, many of the Roman roads were more visible than they are today. "Course of Roman Road" was shown on the early Ordnance Survey maps, and this has been carried over to the modern maps even though traces of the roads are much less obvious, or may have disapeared altogether.
Aerial photographs, especially old ones taken before deep ploughing destroyed much of the evidence, often show a line crossing a field where nothing can be discerned on the ground
Boundaries. After the Romans left, the Anglo-Saxons had no use for a long-distance road network; their economies were essentially local. In any case, there was no central authority to maintain the roads, so they fell into disrepair. It is likely that the Anglo-Saxons saw the roads as convenient dividing lines demarcating farms or villages, and today they often form the boundaries of fields, parishes or even counties.
Of course, if a road was useful, even for only a short stretch, then it would have been used and maintained so, today, many modern roads, tracks or footpaths follow the course of Roman roads. Indeed, the three main routes out of modern Ribchester - Preston Road, Blackburn Road and Stoneygate Lane - are all in part Roman in origin.
What can you expect to find?
Metalling. The Roman roads were constructed from layers of stone, topped with hard-packed sand and gravel, which may have been bound with concrete. We can often see the remains of this metalling today.
In cross-section, a Roman road takes the form of a ridge, with a ditch either side. This ridge, or agger, often survives today, and is one of the most distinctive features of a Roman road. One or both ditches may survive, sometimes forming a convenient route for a stream.
Where a road had to cross a river, a ford would have been easier to construct than a bridge, and we can see the remains of fords in rivers and streams.
In order to ease the gradient when climbing a hill, or to level the road if it ran along the side of a hill, the Romans engineered cuttings and terraces.
The "Line". As everybody knows, the Romans built their roads in straight lines. Often, when there is no other evidence, a straight line drawn between two confirmed sections of Roman road will indicate the course of the road.
All of the above features can be seen in the remains of the Roman roads around Ribchester.