Roman Roads

[mwacuk]

Next byear Im thinking of going to cornwall (from Hull).....but im thinking the normal way would be The M62, M18, M1, A42/M42, M5 etc..but im thinking of taking the A15 down to Lincoln then driving down Fosse Way as far as I can go. Has anyone ever used roman roads over long distence and what is the quality of the road like south of leicester and the A46?

[Jam35]

Has anyone ever used roman roads over long distence and what is the quality of the road like south of leicester and the A46?

It's really good fun, and you can make pretty good going, as what you lose by the occasional piddling little village, you make up by directness and staying awake.

Here's a description of the Fosse Way from where it leaves the A46:

We leave the A46 at the junction for the A607 to Melton. At the end of the slip road, instead of turning left into the A607, we continue straight ahead through Syston.

At the other end of Syston, the priorities have been messed with, so you end up turning right to go straight on (they really don't want you to go through Syston!). We then cross the A607 at a roundabout, then pass through Thurmaston.

At the other end of Thurmaston, it's another turn right to go straight on. After that it's simple though - straight into Leicester along the A607 Melton Road and Belgrave Road (if you're not obsessive about it, I suppose you could just have used the A607 Syston and Thurmaston by-passes). This can be a bit congested, but we are in a city!

We pass over the Belgrave Flyover, travel along half of Belgrave Gate, then come to a grinding halt at a roundabout for the awful A594 Inner Ring Road.

If we were a bicycle or a bus, we could now continue along the Fosse Way (Belgrave Gate, Haymarket, East Gates, High Street), but we're not, so we have to use the Ring Road to St Nicholas Circle (the A47 junction). Having turned right at the horrible horrible traffic-lighted roundabout, we pass over the West Bridge, then turn left into the Narborough Road (A5460). The first mile of this is pretty slow, but it gets faster and faster as we get out of Leicester.

We come to a grinding halt at a roundabout with pretty massive deflection. We want the second exit (the B4114), and hopefully the tailbacks from Fosse Park shedpark don't impede us too much. We then pass through the most complicated signalised junction on earth to cross the A563 Outer Ring Road and then head out towards Narborough.

We pass under the M1, and then immediately the road through the centre of Narborough diverges to the left. We, however, stay on the B4114, as it's faster and a better approximation of the Roman alignment.

We leave Narborough on what is again blatantly the Fosse Way, and it's a good fast S2 for a while. Then we bend off to the right, whilst a dead-end of a track continues along part of the Fosse Way, slow pass through Sharnford, then wind along for a mile or two until we hit Watling Street.

We turn left into the A5, then take a right at High Cross (Venonae, the hub of Roman Britain!) into the B4455 Fosse Way. Welcome to Warwickshire!

The Warwickshire section of the Fosse Way is pretty good. You can hammer along at 60 for a good proportion of it. There are a few interesting bits though:

After quite a distance, we are joined by the B4027, pass over the Trent Valley Railway and the Oxford Canal, then suddenly find the road winding through Brinklow. We've been shoved off the Roman alignment by a mediaeval castle! We pass through the village, turn left, then round a right hand bend and we're going down the Fosse Way again!

Pretty quickly, we reach the tiny hamlet of Bretford. We have to turn "left" onto the A428 to cross Bretford Bridge, then "right" (i.e. straight on) off it.

We can then get going again, passing under the London & Birmingham Line, then crossing the A45 at that roundabout with the War Memorial in the middle. We then slow to pass through Stretton-on-Dunsmore and Princethorpe in quick succession. In Princethorpe, we reach the dreaded Give Way signs, turn right into the B4453, then go straight across the A423 at a crossroads to resume the B4455 Fosse Way.

After this, it's easy. There's a brief fast wiggle around Eathorpe Hall, then there's nothing but good rural S2 until we cross the A425 at a roundabout somewhere east of Leamington. Then we go on along more good fast rural S2, pass over the M40 (wave at Warwick services down to the left!), straight across a roundabout with the imaginatively numbered B4100, and then we really can enjoy the Warwickshire countryside.

Eventually, we are loudly awakened by crossing the A422 at some crossroads outside Ettington, then about a mile or so later, we hit a roundabout, and gain the number A429.

This section's much more loved by the authorities than the B4455 bit. There's even the occasional roundabout that really oughtn't exist. We bridge the Paddle Brook and cross into Gloucestershire (and right on the border, off to the left, there's a deserted mediaeval village).

It can sometimes be a bit slow through Moreton-in-Marsh and Stow-on-the-Wold, but after that we only just graze Bourton-on-the-Water, and we're on a really really good Roman A-road.

South of Bourton, my knowledge goes fuzzy, but there's a wonky bit, then we cross the A40 at a roundabout, there are some good hills at Fossebridge where we - err - bridge the River Coln. We hit another wonky bit, and then we're coming into Corinium (Cirencester), and I'm totally at a loss at how best to get through there. (And I'm sure someone else can pick the narrative up).

[Nic]

Its not too bad. There are a few give ways through Warwickshire, and you may get stuck behind a Tractor, but otherwise, Yeah. Enjoy the big dipper that is a straight road through the Cotwolds.

And stop off at the M96 on the way

[A303Paul]

Between Circencester and Bath the Fosse is a mixture of unclassified roads and green lanes not suitable for cars. Essentially the Fosse follows the A433 out of Mlamesbury but then the A433 swings north of the Fosse which is blocked by an Airfield and becomes a green unmade lane marking the county boundary.

It is possible to see the course of the Fosse into Bath as the directness of the unclassified road gives it away onm maps and where it is an unmade green lane it is the county boundary which can be seen on large scale maps.

South of Bath the A367 runs partly on the Fosse to Stratton on the Fosse and then the A367 and A37 run mostly on the Fosse Way to the Roman town of Ilchester. The town was bypassed in the 1970s blocking the original Fosse.

(Disclaimer - I have never driven the Fosse between Cirencester and Stratton on the Fosse so all info is from maps.)

From Ilchester Bypass take the A303(T) towards Exeter and you will soon find the D2 becoming very straight because it is the Fosse Way. At the Ilminster bypass take the old road towards Ilminster as far as the Lopen Head Roundabout.

At the lopen head roundabout turn left onto the Merriot road for a few yards then take the first right towards Dinnington on a road called "Snapant"

(DANGER- THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS BLIND TURN - I WOULD RECOMMEND DRIVING FURTHER TOWARDS MERRIOT TO WHERE IT IS SAFE TO TURN ROUND THEN BACK TO THE DINNINGTON TURNING (Snapant) MAKING IT A SAFER LEFT TURN)

Having taken this turn towards Dinnington from the Merriot road you are now on the Fosse again. The next 6 or so miles of S1 to the A30 take you through Dinnington then take the left fork in a cutting, go straight on at the crossroads at the end of the cutting and continue straight on until you get to the A30 at Higher Chillington. Be aware that despite the road being too narrow for 2 vehicles to pass it is by far the most Direct route from Ilchester to Chard and Axminster and Seaton and therefore quite busy. Because it is straight people go quite fast in places (eg 60mph) especially north of Dinnington.

Just beyond Higher Chillington you come to the A30. Turn right onto the A30 which is the Fosse Way here across Windwhistle to Cricket St Thomas and then fork left onto the B3167 which is again the Fosse and at the end of this go left onto the A358 which is again the Fosse.

Continue along the A358 through to Axmister which despite the curves is mostly on the Fosse (seems the Romans were running short of cash here). From south of Axminster you can either take the A35/A30 to Exeter which is mainly of Roman origin and is said by some to be the Fosse Way.

If you continue a few miles down the A358 and then B3172 for a few miles you reach the true termination of the Fosse at Axmouth.

The slow and windy A3052 to Exeter is also a roman road (actually in all probability a romanised ancient trackway)

[FosseWay]

The Fosse Way between Leicester and Ciren is a pleasure to drive. Depending on when you use it, it can also be as quick as the motorway route round Brum, as the reduced distance and unlikelihood of major jams more than compensate for the reduced speed (unless you're in the habit of doing a ton on the motorway -- dunno then).

The B4455 is the best part; the A429 unsurprisingly has more traffic and also suffers from Glos CC's approach to highways management (in a nutshell, put as much distracting paint on the carriageway as possible, make random stretches of straight NSL 50 or 40 and enforce them with Gatsos, and never, ever repair any road surfaces).

Others have given a fairly comprehensive idea of the route, but I'd add these comments:

1. Watch out at Hunningham Hill (aka the Junction of Death), where you really can't see what's coming at the crossroads, especially travelling south. Best done at night for this reason.

2. Look out for the signs around Brinklow and Princethorpe as the road makes some counterintuitive turns and briefly multiplexes with various other numbers.

3. Unless your aim is to follow the Roman road as closely as possible regardless of time loss, I'd recommend following the A46 onto the M1, taking the M69 to the A5 junction and rejoining the Roman road at High Cross. Suburban Leicester is a pain.

4. Mind the Gatsos on the A429.

5. On Sundays be prepared for the 40mph brigade (there are usually plenty of chances to overtake) and the occasional vintage car rally. (In early June 2004 I got hopelessly snarled up in an ENORMOUS convoy of WW2 military vehicles doing 25mph on their way to the D-Day celebrations.)

6. Early in the morning and at night there's a higher than normal number of perplexed animals waiting to become roadkill in the middle of the road. These include the kind of animal you really don't want to hit at 60mph (I've met sheep, badgers, deer and a pig).

I've never driven the Fosse Way south of Ciren. However, the section between the airfield and the M4-ish is the best place to imagine how this road would have looked 2000 years ago. It's a good walk; bits are also suitable for bicycles.

[M4Simon]

Next byear Im thinking of going to cornwall (from Hull).....but im thinking the normal way would be The M62, M18, M1, A42/M42, M5 etc..but im thinking of taking the A15 down to Lincoln then driving down Fosse Way as far as I can go. Has anyone ever used roman roads over long distence and what is the quality of the road like south of leicester and the A46?

I just happen to have some pictures of part of the Fosse Way here. It is a great drive.

Cheers,

Simon

[moogal]

3. Unless your aim is to follow the Roman road as closely as possible regardless of time loss, I'd recommend following the A46 onto the M1, taking the M69 to the A5 junction and rejoining the Roman road at High Cross. Suburban Leicester is a pain.

Or even come off at M1 junction 21 and pick it up at Fosse Park - it's really not bad at that point, so long as you don't hit it at rush hour. Just go all the way along the A5460 from the M1 to the roundabout for Fosse Park, take a right and you're on your way...

[Junglecarz]

The Fosse Way between Leicester and Ciren is a pleasure to drive. Depending on when you use it, it can also be as quick as the motorway route round Brum, as the reduced distance and unlikelihood of major jams more than compensate for the reduced speed (unless you're in the habit of doing a ton on the motorway -- dunno then).

The B4455 is the best part; the A429 unsurprisingly has more traffic and also suffers from Glos CC's approach to highways management (in a nutshell, put as much distracting paint on the carriageway as possible, make random stretches of straight NSL 50 or 40 and enforce them with Gatsos, and never, ever repair any road surfaces).

Others have given a fairly comprehensive idea of the route, but I'd add these comments:

1. Watch out at Hunningham Hill (aka the Junction of Death), where you really can't see what's coming at the crossroads, especially travelling south. Best done at night for this reason.

2. Look out for the signs around Brinklow and Princethorpe as the road makes some counterintuitive turns and briefly multiplexes with various other numbers.

3. Unless your aim is to follow the Roman road as closely as possible regardless of time loss, I'd recommend following the A46 onto the M1, taking the M69 to the A5 junction and rejoining the Roman road at High Cross. Suburban Leicester is a pain.

4. Mind the Gatsos on the A429.

5. On Sundays be prepared for the 40mph brigade (there are usually plenty of chances to overtake) and the occasional vintage car rally. (In early June 2004 I got hopelessly snarled up in an ENORMOUS convoy of WW2 military vehicles doing 25mph on their way to the D-Day celebrations.)

6. Early in the morning and at night there's a higher than normal number of perplexed animals waiting to become roadkill in the middle of the road. These include the kind of animal you really don't want to hit at 60mph (I've met sheep, badgers, deer and a pig).

I've never driven the Fosse Way south of Ciren. However, the section between the airfield and the M4-ish is the best place to imagine how this road would have looked 2000 years ago. It's a good walk; bits are also suitable for bicycles.

This may seem a bit weird but are you aware of any signs that signpost from Brinklow over a long distance like it does for Cirencester on the Fosse Way

[FosseWay]

This may seem a bit weird but are you aware of any signs that signpost from Brinklow over a long distance like it does for Cirencester on the Fosse Way

Sorry, I'm not quite with you. IIRC Leicester is signed from the Ciren end just as Ciren is from the north. Brinklow is only signed a few miles either side of the village.

But tbh looking on GSV will be more reliable than asking me, since I posted that 14 years ago at a time when I regularly drove up and down the FW. For 9 of the intervening years I've not even been living in the same country

[darkcape]

From the south it's signed from the A45 and from the north from the A5.

[Piatkow]

I have managed the whole of the Londinium - Camulodunum road over the years but never in one go.

I have only managed the Foss Way between from Northleach both north to Moreton in Marsh and south to Cirencester but I do enjoy driving on that section.