A Roman road network that spanned across Devon and Cornwall and connected significant settlements has been discovered.
Archaeologists at the University of Exeter have used laser scans collected as part of the Environment Agency’s National LiDAR Programme to identify sections of the road west of the previously understood boundary.
Using sophisticated geographical modelling techniques the researchers have then been able to map out the full extent of the network.
The work reveals that far from Exeter being the main nerve centre of the network, it was North Tawton that supported vital connections with tidal estuaries north and south of Bodmin and Dartmoor.
'Transform our understanding'
The findings were led by Dr Christopher Smart and Dr Joao Fonte, from Exeter’s department of archaeology and history.
Dr Smart said: “Despite more than 70 years of scholarship, published maps of the Roman road network in southern Britain have remained largely unchanged and all are consistent in showing that west of Exeter, Roman Isca, there was little solid evidence for a system of long-distance roads."
He said the new research will "transform our understanding of the Roman road network". The National LiDAR Programme, external was conducted between 2016 and 2022 by the Environment Agency covering the whole of England.
It transformed the amount of terrain mapped of Devon and Cornwall, which had previously stood at just 11%.
The Exeter team studied the scans and together they were able to map about 62 miles (100km) of additional roads.
Although this represented a significant advancement, the overall picture remained fragmented and patchy, with large portions of the map showing no evidence of Roman roads. The team developed a geographic information system predictive model, which could intelligently fill in the gaps as to the likely layout of the network.
'Tactical roads'
They plotted primary and secondary “nodes” across the two counties, which included permanent military fortifications, including the known forts of Old Burrow and The Beacon at Martinhoe, as well as the settlements at Exeter and North Tawton.
They then calculated the easiest routes between these points.
When the team returned to the LiDAR scans, they were able to identify a further (8 miles) 13km of Roman road within a short distance predicted by the model.
The final stage saw the researchers use focal mobility networks and transit corridors to extend the road network to areas that lay beyond the main Roman sites known in the region.
“In terms of chronology, it is likely that the proposed network is an amalgam of pre-existing prehistoric routeways, Roman military campaign roads or ‘tactical roads’ formally adopted into the provincial communications system, and of those constructed during peacetime in a wholly civilian context,” said Dr Fonte.
“This evolutionary model is supported by the fact that the network does not solely connect Roman forts and their hinterlands directly, which are often connected by branch roads, but instead appears to serve a broader purpose than required by military supply.”