Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society . feature which, from an engineering point ofview, might appear to be unnecessary. It should be added that, although careful watch was keptduring these excavations, no coin, implement or pottery wasfound, nor anything to fix definitely the age of this interestingexample of Roman work. The exact course of the road from Silchester to Caerleonbetween Bath and Bitton had never been established. Afterleaving Bath it might have followed the upper Bristol road byWeston and Kelston to Bitton, but it had generally beenconnected with
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society . feature which, from an engineering point ofview, might appear to be unnecessary. It should be added that, although careful watch was keptduring these excavations, no coin, implement or pottery wasfound, nor anything to fix definitely the age of this interestingexample of Roman work. The exact course of the road from Silchester to Caerleonbetween Bath and Bitton had never been established. Afterleaving Bath it might have followed the upper Bristol road byWeston and Kelston to Bitton, but it had generally beenconnected with an ancient road which was traceable on thesouthern slopes of Lansdowne, and had generally beensupposed to be of Roman age. It was in order to examine carefully the structure of thisroad that a few members of the Bath Field Club met thereduring the past winter, as already stated, when certainexcavations were made under the direction of Mr. A. TriceMartin, which would now be described. Operations werecommenced in a field immediately under Prospect Stile, 1 Vol. i. Notes on Roman Roads. 337 which is approached from Weston by a steep and somewhatinaccessible path. Along the lower side of this field thereran this ancient road, grown green with grass and boundedb}^ a low hedge and shallow ditch on either side, its widthbeing about i6 feet, the level of the road being rather underthat of the adjoining fields, with the hedge banks risingabove that level. Having selected a suitable spot, a strip ofturf about i8 inches wide was removed right across the road,laying bear its surface, which was met with at a depth ofa few inches below the grass. The surface of the road wasfound to have been coated to a width of 13 feet with roundedstones about 2 inches in diameter, having a weatheredappearance such as if they might have been gathered fromthe adjoining land, the question being whether the road hadbeen merely metalled with a coating of land stones, orwhether it was a rough description o
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbristola, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1903
