The Roman Road System of Britain
During its occupation of Britain (A.D. 43-410), the Roman Empire built an extensive network of roads. The Roman government recognized four categories of roads ranging in order from the most important to the least: public roads funded by the state; military roads built at the army’s expense but also used by the public; local roads on which less engineering effort was expended; and private roads that were built and maintained by their owners. The latter two categories encompassed roads and tracks of varying quality. Before the Romans built roads, the ancient trackways of Britain had followed the natural terrain, seeking the easiest ground to traverse. Such tracks often detoured around marshy areas, hills, or ravines. Romans did not like to waste effort building long, meandering roads, so they ignored the older routes, preferring instead to move in the straightest line possible except where major obstacles in the landscape left no choice. Since Roman roads usually connected such new places of military importance as forts, towns, and administrative centers, the old trackways often did not take the desired direction. There were a few exceptions. Silchester was one of the pre-Roman centers of British activity reused by the Romans. There, the old native roads connected to the new road system.
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