Roman Roads in Britain

All over the Roman Empire the roads were laid out as a carefully planned system linking the centres of occupation, both military and civil, to every neighbouring centre, so as to ensure the most rapid communication possible.

The roads were thus more nearly analogous to a railway system, and their layout was planned by well-trained engineers in much the same way, after a skilful survey of the ground problems to determine the choice of the most practicable route.

It is the universal evidence of just this skill which constantly renders their work worthy of our admiration, for it should be remembered that no maps or compasses were available to them, the land to be traversed was often thickly forested. ¶Between 1880 and 1900, professional road surveyor Thomas Codrington, travelling in a horse-drawn dog cart, made a meticulous survey of the remains of the key Roman roads in Britain, preserving much valuable information before many of them were destroyed by twentieth century urban and road development.

He was also the first person to collate together all of the observations and writing of antiquaries through the ages.

From Camden to Ogilby, to Stukeley, to Colt Hoare, etc., Codrington gathered them all and then added his own notes from his personal peregrinations.