From Exeter to the Moray Firth, the Roman occupation made its mark on the British Isles. In my corner of the country, you don’t have to look too hard to find evidence of the Romans themselves; in fact, it’s impossible to avoid them. There’s an old saying, ‘Scratch Gloucestershire and find Rome’, and it has been proved true time after time.
Two thousand years ago, give or take, the county town of Gloucester was Glevum, the busy market town at Cirencester was Corinium and, at the end of the Cotswold Way, modern-day Bath was Aquae Sulis. There are the remains of once-impressive villas at Chedworth, Great Witcombe and Spoonley Wood near Winchcombe.
Even more intriguingly, a vast and elaborate mosaic lies hidden under the soil in the churchyard at Woodchester near Stroud. I know that mosaic fragments can be found all over the place but the Orpheus Pavement in the Woodchester villa is exceptional; it’s the second largest ancient Roman mosaic in Europe and one of the most intricate, originally made up of one-and-a-half million coloured pieces.
Commuter routes that criss-cross Gloucestershire were once the roads that legionaries trod: the Fosse Way, Akeman Street and Ermin Way, plus a dozen other tracks and byways. I’m proud to say that one of them sits alongside our farm. It’s an old Roman road called Buckle Street, which runs from Bourton-on-the-Water to Broadway, where it adopts its formal name, Icknield Street. From there it cuts across the country all the way to Templeborough in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
But there’s a theory that Buckle Street is much older and the resourceful Romans simply built their road on the course of an existing Neolithic salt way or trading route. What we can be certain about is that the first written record of the road is in a Saxon Charter of 709AD where it appears as Bugghilde Street.
Don’t for a moment think that all the great discoveries have been made and the thrill of exciting historical finds is a thing of the past. A massive road-building scheme on the A417 is transforming a huge area on the edge of the Cotswolds near Cheltenham. The excavations have unearthed a small town along the Ermin Street road, which experts think was an important stopping point for travellers seeking rest and looking for trade from 160–180CE to the fourth century.
Archaeologists have found remains of buildings, ovens, brooches, nail cleaners and an exquisite figurine depicting Cupid, the Roman god of love. They have also identified horse bones, bridles and hipposandals – an early type of horseshoe – suggesting there were stables and a horse-changing station.
I made a discovery of my own not so long ago. I found a Roman coin right outside my back door. I’d just come in from the fields and this little remnant of long ago had obviously become stuck to the bottom of my wellies. In legal terms it’s not treasure but it’s incredibly precious to me.
For all the mystery, mosaics and museum pieces, there is one legacy of Roman Britain that’s very close to home for a rare-breeds farmer like me. And it’s a living breathing example. Cotswold sheep were brought to these shores by the Roman invaders who cherished them for their long, thick lustrous fleece. Cotswold sheep are the county breed of Gloucestershire and in the Middle Ages they made local wool merchants very wealthy indeed.
Monty Python famously asked, “What have the Romans ever done for us?” Well, quite a lot, as it turns out.
Read more of Adam's columns
- Charles Dickens, Hollywood and Adam Henson: The surprising history behind London’s Smithfield Market
- It’s low in fat and high in protein – but you won’t find it on many supermarket shelves. So why aren’t we eating more venison, asks Adam Henson
- Is this the end of the great British pint? Why concern is growing over the future of this centuries-old tradition
- "Could jobs be wiped out?" Adam Henson on the rise of AI in agriculture
Main image credit: Getty
