A ROMAN ROAD AT OTLEY

Transcription

1 A ROMAN ROAD AT OTLEY By ELIZABETH J. OWLES, B.A., F.S.A. Mr. Ivan Margary, the great authorty on Roman roads, has commented on the apparent poverty of ther constructon n East Angla whch makesthe task of the nvestgatordffcultsnce,when the road has gone derelct, all traces of t seem to vansh entrely.' Accordngly, when Mr. Paul Bye of Catshll Farm, Clopton, remarked that he thought a Roman road ran across hs father's land, and that he would be glad to have ts presence confrmedby excavaton, the wrter decded to sezethe opportunty. The modern B.078s unusually straght for most of ts course from Barham Green to Dallnghoo, a fact that led Margary to assume, wthout defnte proof, that t was of Roman orgn. At Otley Bottom however, t makes a rght angle bend to the rght, twstsalong besde the stream for two thrds of a mle, and takes a sharp turn to the left just before the Crown Inn and thereafter resumes ts former algnment (Fg. 29). Much of the land between the two straght stretches of road s owned by Mr. George Bye. One of hs sons, Paul, mentoned to the wrter that the cart-track, whch ran westwardsfrom Catshll Farm, seemedto be on the lne of the Roman road and that the contnuaton of the track showed up as a stony streak after ploughng. He added that ths was less obvouseveryyear as he ploughedto the depth of a footusngheavy machnery whch turned three furrowsat a tme. In September 967 t was decded to see whether ths stony streak was ndeed a Roman road and f so to examne ts constructon. A trench four feet wde sevenyards from the west end of the track revealed the road and ts flankng dtches (TM/ ). The dtcheswere four feet wde and two feet deep from the present ground surface; the dstance between them was twenty-fve feet (Fg. 30). The road was made up of rammed gravel eght nches thck n the centre; t was not possble to estmate the orgnal thckness because evdently consderable damage had been caused by the plough. The gravel was thnner and less dense near the north dtch. The southern edge of the road had been destroyed when a hedge, whch followed ts course, was grubbed up a few years ago. The sol here s heavy clay, but a ffth of a mle away, opposte the Crown Inn, s a gravel pt whch may have been worked snce Roman tmes. The only fnds made were two mnute fragments of Roman pottery from the north dtch. Ivan Margary, Roman Roads n Brtan (967), p. 245.

2 86 SUFFOLK INSTITUTE OF ARCHtEOLOGY An attempt to trace the course of the road wth the ad of a megger, loaned by Ipswch School through the good offces of Mr. James Young, proved unsuccessful.however, Mr. Bye kndly notfed the wrter when he was about to plough the feld to the east of the farmhouse, and although the Roman road had been almost entrely destroyed, a short stretch could be glmpsedn the bottom of the furrow (Fg. 29). The feld to the west wasowned by Mr. D. Ball; he co-operated n a smlar manner and another small porton was located. The road whose Roman orgn has now been establshed, was gven by Margary the number 340 and was consderedby hm to run from Baylhamto Wckham Market (Fg. 3). Sncehe wrote, a settlement has been dscoveredat Lower Hacheston (TM/32569) a mle to the north-west of Wckham Market. Tral excavatons carred out by the wrter n 965and 966showedthat the settlement covered an area of several acres and that occupaton lasted from Claudan tmes at least untl the fourth century. Iron and bronze workng and pottery makng were carred out on the ste. The 340 was therefore presumably makng for Hacheston rather than Wckham Market.' Westward from Otley the road underles ts modern successorfor ten mles; after ths ts course s not clear though t probably went to the settlement on the east bank of the Gppng whch s actually n Coddenham parsh, not Baylham.' Here Margary's road 34 whch ran from Wxoe on the north bank of the Stour, through Long Melford to Peasenhall4 and probably on to Dunwch, crossedhs road 3, the modern A.40,from London through Colchester to Caster-by-Norwch. 2 In 967 Mr. H. Lucock, the Supervsor Foreman for the Department of Roads and Brdges, reported that durng the constructon of a Baley brdge to carry the A.I2 across the Rver Deben, he observed a layer of gravel 4 ft. thck and 7 ft. below the present road surface whch he thought was unlkely to be a natural depost. It extended over an area of 25 ft. by 2 ft. and appeared on both banks of the rver. If ths was a Roman road t was consderably more substantal than the man London to Caster-by-Norwch road whch, as reported by Mr. Stanley West n Ant.J., xxxvt (956), p. 73, was only ft. 6 ns. thck. 3 In 949 Mr. Basl Brown cut a secton across what appeared to be a Roman road north-westof Barham Church (TM/3650). It was runnng east and was 24 ft. wde and from the dtches came a denarus of Domtan and Roman pottery. If ths also s the 340 t must have crossed the Gppng at a pont further south than Coddenham. The London to Caster-by-Norwch road crossed the Gppng at Sharmford (TM/7523) accordng to the Gentleman's Magaznefor 824, and joned the modern A.40 just beyond the seventh mlestone (TM/538). The Resdent Engneer for the Department of Roads and Brdges, Mr. H. Lass, reported seeng a layer of large flnts 25 to 30 ft. wde and 6 to 9 ns, thck n the sde of a trench at Earl Soham n 968.He consdered that t was part of the Roman road. Stadt, FOIL_,

3 St. WY cg. -N k(ghsouse : " "-s' 9-o MOTTE ,7:,,,_:40 4, -:,,,4, _-- \ -, OTl t,{\ \, - ---' \ IPZ...,...." C,:.,,^. \) \ / ' /! " \ N..,d,' < / '.-.,., _ -.5 ' -If...,s,..,.---_,. /,,. / I.,ttOPIptkp N GRED SO. PARt. 7-- / ' I, \ CA RILL FARA \ / bo vyt, tot4,. Qkft?ott 04.. t5., *\. 54 WM. ' CR0vstsv 4N N. QO 29. Map of Otley showng Roman road, based on 0.S. Map. Scale'6 ns. to ml.,hj dllp.(,.,,...)...])))h0,,,) Il II)),:4 L;!Jll.,= = =44,4 FFFls-N :FtkBrown Clay Fll -Ml----= Natural clay Sand Sand & Gravel Lght Brown Fll SCALE OF FEET _,0-t Western secton through Roman road, Otley, 967

4 St NRALL ft LARk s.9. 0 ODE4WISH PEASEN IIA LL BURY EDM2NDS A45 LOWER OTLEV o t,c0) WICKHA MARKET 4ACHESTON ALDEBURGH BAYL HAM 0.P FIVIPM CLO PTO N 8LDESToty.b" dc) e Woo OBRI DOE EAELFORD I PSUlCH k?." R.S OLLR SCALE IN MILES 0 FELIXSTOWE A ROMAN SETTLEMENT R. SroUR 3. Roman roads n Suffolk.

5 ROMAN ROAD AT OTLEY 87 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks are due to Mr. George Bye and hs famly and to Mr. D. Ballfor ther wllngco-operaton, to Mr. Norman Smedley and Mr. Raymond Potter for drawng the fgures,and to the volunteers who helped n the excavaton.