Foss Way, Nettleton - 22 March 2018 >

We decided to see what an accepted Roman road looked like, the Fosse Way. We chose a section in the middle of nowhere just west of Castle Combe, starting a little way south of the Roman settlement at West Kington Wick ( Usually identified as Nettleton Shrub , which is actually a bit to the north). Excavation of the settlement has revealed the remains of a Roman temple and associated settlement dating from the 1st to the fourth century. The temple was built soon after A.D. 69. Finds suggest it was probably dedicated to Apollo. The structure went through a number of iterations, including a reconstruction about 250 A.D. producing an octagonal building consisting of an inner chamber surrounded by eight chambers and enclosed by a covered walkway. After 370 A.D. layers of straw, manure and household rubbish suggests that the building was being used as a domestic dwelling or animal byre. The associated settlement, consisting of around 28 buildings, lies east of the temple. There is evidence for industrial activity during the 4th Century but once the temple fell out of use stone walls were constructed between the buildings, probably to form animal pens. (Notes above from Pastscape ). Nothing can now be seen above ground in the open fields.

The Fosse here presents an impressively high and broad agger on which rides the modern tarmac road.

To the south the line bends southwards twice by shallow angles to achieve a 40° change of direction as it passes between Colerne and Marshfield. At the first bend by Halls Barn Farm, it may be joined by a service road  which certainly started out from the recently excavated Villa at Truckle Hill not far off to the east of the Foss ( ARA Bulletin 23). Of interest to me from a transportation point of view, the stone roof tiles had to be brought at least 25 km and ceramic building materials came from Minety 35 km to the north (production started c75AD).

A bit further to the north beyond the M5 the modern road takes a sharp left turn to the north west and abandons the Foss which continues as a track in a straight line north north east. The track is metalled (presumably not Roman!) and wide enough to take vehicles though we saw none over the 30 to 60 minutes of our walk. Entrances to fields on either side suggested a purely agricultural use. By comparison with the traffic busy section along the modern minor road, the great road seemed lifeless. But it was still impressive, the width easily exceeding the track on either side and the agger rising above the fields.

The track continues for about a mile and then for a short distance bends slightly to the east before resuming the line. There seemed no topographical reason for this very slight and completely uncharacteristic anomaly; there is a very small stream to be crossed but that cannot be the answer. My guess notices West Dunley farm to the west, connected by a track to the Fosse; I think that farm traffic from the modern road to the north swings east before turning to the west to the farm. The original line might survive in an overgrown sunken stretch on the west edge of the current track, containing ruts (which of course cannot survive from Roman times). We went no further.

At its northern end the track once more joins a modern minor road coming from Grittleton in the east (presumably a Saxon foundation) and continuing for 3 1/2 miles before a sharp turn to the West (to Luckington, presumably also Saxon in origin). The Foss then continues as a track for many miles passing a Roman town at Easton Grey and there crossing the Sherston Avon perhaps by a bridge, seemingly without deviation from the line.