Monument record MDO432 - Roman road from Dorchester to Ilchester

The road from the north west, connecting Dorchester with Ilchester is clear beyond Stratton, some 3 miles from the likely west gate of Dorchester. No positive traces are recognisable between these points, but there seems no good reason to reject the route proposed by Hutchins anfd followed by the present road from Bradford Peverell, which enters the borough a few yards outside the south west corner of Poundbury Camp. A road hereabouts is strongly supported by the presence of the Roman cemetery on the east slopes of Poundbury. RCHM,II PT3,541 Summary from record MDO2563: The predicted probable course of the Dorchester to Ilchester Roman Road.

Roman road-Dorchester to Ilchester (23 1/4 miles) "From Dorchester there was a direct route north-westward to Ilchester... This route has remained in use almost throughout and, although in general it is very straight... in the central portion between Frampton and Holywell, its line was very cleverly modified to keep along the high ridge there and so avoid much hill-climbing"

The road issued from the west gate of Roman Dorchester and, apart from bends on steep hills, runs very straight to Bradford Peverell, passing just to the south of Poundbury Iron Age Camp. From Bradford Peverell the road was formerly traceable across the water meadows to Stratton, where it would have joined the branch from Stinsford (470) and Charminster. This is continuously traceable as a farm road or lane for most of its length. Both these routes to Stratton are aligned roads and certainly qualify as of Roman origin.

From Stratton through Frampton to Holywell the modern road is mainly on the Roman line, but an agger is visible in some cases where this is not so. From Holywell for the next three miles past Melbury Park the road is very twisting.

At Princes Place, near Melbury Osmund a true alignment recommences and after a slight turn in another mile, near Closworth, it ran straight on to Yeovil where it passes a mile west of the town centre continuing upon its alignment on a course previously ascertained, but now obliterated by development to Preston Plucknett.

Larkhill Road then carries it on towards Ilchester first as a minor lane with a change of direction on the high ground near Vagg and then by the main road from Yeovil to Ilchester.

Roman road-Dorchester to Ilchester. Section from Red House Inn, Barwick (ST55451390) to junction of Larkhill Lane and Thorne Lane (ST53641760)
At Keyford the road runs through a rock cutting. A sunken footpath then marks it to Aldon Lodge at the approach to Yeovil, but the Roman road passes a mile to the west of the town centre, continuing upon its alignment on a course, previously ascertained but now obliterated by development, to Preston Plucknett, where it was seen in a section in a quarry. Larkhill Road (Lane on OS 6") then carries it on towards Ilchester, first as a minor lane with a change of direction on the high ground near Vagg and then by the main road from Yeovil to Ilchester

See AO/60/330/7 for probable course of road. (Also see linear file for field reports and miscellaneous information. (1,2)

A field evaluation in 1997 found no positive evidence of the Roman road. The excavators noted that a sequence of linear ditches in the north of the site (F108 and F1101) may be in the approximate position of road side ditches. They concluded that it was possible that the course of the Roman Road lay a little further north of the postulated line, perhaps under the existing hedge bank, or even that it has been superseded by Old Dorchester Road. <6>

<1> Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1928, Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society (Serial). SDO20608.

Raleigh Radford

<2> Margary, Ivan D, 1955, Roman roads in Britain. Vol 1. South of the Foss Way- Bristol Channel (Monograph). SDO20607.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 3, 541 (Monograph). SDO150.

'APPROACH ROAD 4. The road from the N.W. connecting Dorchester with Ilchester (Lendiniae (?)) is clear beyond Stratton about 3 miles from the W. gate (Margary's route 47, op. cit., 110–2). No positive traces are recognizable between these points, but there seems no reason to reject the route proposed by Hutchins and followed by the present road from Bradford Peverell, which enters the borough a few yards outside the S.W. corner of Poundbury Camp. A road hereabouts is strongly supported by the presence of the Roman cemetery (225) on the E. slopes of Poundbury. Hutchins stated that it left the main Roman road at the W. end of Dorchester 'at an acute angle, its dorsum broad and high, paved with flints. It is the present road to Bradford Peverel, and is very perfect in some places, especially near Bradford; and at the higher end of that village it crosses several branches of the Frome, and is visible in the meadows . . . '. In 1829 the Rev. James Skinner sketched the line as it appeared to him across the watermeadows between Stratton and Bradford (B.M. Add. MS. 33715, 12, 15), while Margary (op. cit., 111) has noted a gravel spread which he thought confirmed a route northwards across the meadows to Stratton, to join the branch route there. [Footnote: Similar gravel, however, is exposed frequently in this area where the banks of the stream are sufficiently trampled by cattle. An alternative course in this sector, running obliquely across the meadows and probably to be identified with that claimed by Hutchins, is now marked on the latest edition of the O.S. 6 in. map SY 69 SE.]

The present road from Poundbury eastwards, while not exactly straight, suggests an alignment

[Footnote: Military map of the Encampment at Dorchester, 1757 (B.M. Add. MS. 15532), which shows the road running through.]
[Footnote: Hutchins II, 739, footnote; Gentleman's Mag. (1841), pt. ii, 393; the sarcophagus is untraced.
47A. Fägersten, Place Names of Dorset (1933), 185–6, Stratton; 'farm by the (Roman) road'.]

<4> Farwell, D, and Davies, S M, 1989, Archaeological Observations at Grimstone Dairy, Stratton 1989 (Unpublished document). SDO178.

‘The complete lack of archaeological features and minimal recovery of finds was surprising in view of the pleasant aspect of this site and its proximity to known archaeological material. It is therefore suggested that the course of the Roman road is slightly to the south of the present track past the field, and that any access development between the Celtic settlement to the north and the Roman road occurred to the east of the site along the present access route and field boundaries.’

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1990, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1989, 106 (Serial). SDO89.

<6> Cottrell, T, 1997, An Archaeological Field Evaluation of the Proposed Development of Land off Dorchester Road, Stratton, Dorset (Unpublished document). SDO12372.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 858991 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 4:34PM