Monument record MDO3115 - Roman road from Dorchester to Radipole, Weymouth

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 528 (Monograph). SDO150.

'ROAD I. Dorchester to Radipole, Weymouth (SY 68 NE, SE).
The road (Margary's no. 48) running S.W. from the S. exit of Dorchester has been recognized as Roman since the 17th century (Coker, 67); the only monumental remains are on Ridgeway Hill. The distance of six miles was covered in one minor alignment of 600 yds. to Maumbury Rings and perhaps two major alignments of almost equal length, laid out from the crest of Ridgeway Hill, to what would then have been a tidal creek at Radipole. Alternatively the route S. of Ridgeway Hill may have been in three alignments, following more nearly the line of the modern road through Broadwey.
The first alignment, represented by if not necessarily coinciding with Weymouth Avenue, is discussed below (see Dorchester, Approach Roads, 2). Thereafter from Maumbury Rings the elevated Weymouth road (A 354) is impressively straight and must be on the line almost to the summit of Ridgeway Hill where the present road bends southwards. Here the Roman agger continues the line for nearly 70 yds. to the crest; it was some 27 ft. wide and 3 ft. high above ditch bottom in 1953, but has been under plough. The W. side-ditch has probably been enlarged by erosion or use as a hollow-way, while the E. ditch is obliterated by a metalled track (SY 67078602; Bincombe parish). From the crest the new Roman alignment ran almost due S.; if the change was made in a curve the lane and the former parish boundary (fn. 2) may preserve the line, as they clearly do further downhill until it is lost in the old quarries. From Elwell the main road (A 354) follows the line as far as the corner of Stottingway Street.
The remainder of the route is uncertain. An unaltered alignment is perfectly feasible and would touch the known Roman site on Spa Hill (Weymouth (437)) before the final descent to Radipole Lake, but no positive remains are known although Hatcher's observations in 1802, recorded by Warne, seem to confirm it as far as Broadwey village. Alternatively the modern road diverging through Broadwey may indicate two Roman alignments, the second of which, followed in part by a former parish boundary as far as Redlands, would also touch the Spa Hill site. Roman burials at Broadwey (see Weymouth (443)) are doubtless associated with the road but cannot be said to favour either route decisively. Margary follows Codrington in suggesting that there was a final alignment from Redlands S.S.W. to reach the creek by the gentler incline, but the evidence is unsatisfactory. (Dorset Procs. LXXIII (1951), 97–9; I. D. Margary, Roman Roads in Britain (2nd edn. 1967), 112–13; T. Codrington, Roman Roads in Britain (revised edn. 1918), 256–7.)'

Record last edited

May 22 2014 11:37AM