Roman Roads

Roman Roads in Lancashire

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Latest News

New Picture: Roman Road Agger at Browsholme Heights

New picture by Peter Iles of the agger at Browsholme Heights. This stretch of the road heading north from Ribchester to the Croasdale Fells had been doubted as the correct alignment by some authors but aerial photos and now this picture confirm this as the true alignment.

Update on possible Roman Ford at Lancaster

A piece of timber from the "ford" has been recovered for dating - first results indicate NOT Roman. The timber was undateable but as it was softwood this is a strong indicator that it is modern.

Introduction

Lancashire has some of the Country's most spectacular Roman Roads and in tracing them we will travel through some of Lancashire's finest countryside and see some stunning views. There are very few sites in England where the Roman Road surface has been exposed and put on display. Lancashire has one of them and you can literally walk in the footsteps of the Legions!

The following began as an article written by the former Deputy County Surveyor of Lancashire, J M Whiteley, nearly 20 years ago but has been considerably revised and expanded by David Ratledge, reflecting our increasing knowledge of the events that shaped our county nearly 2000 years ago. It is possibly the first review to have used GIS (Geographic Information System) technology to combine old and modern maps, contour maps and aerial photographs.

Thanks are due to Peter McCrone of the Environment Directorate's Archaeology Section for writing the Background section - this is now a separate webpage.

continues........

> Page 2 details of the two main North-South Roads through the County,

> Page 3 details of the other known roads including around Ribchester and Lancaster,

> Page 4 details of possible roads, conclusion, references and contacts.