Roads in Roman Britain

The engineering achievement of Britain's Roman road network was not rivalled until the 19th-century and it is this technical aspect of Roman road building that Hugh Davies focuses on. A professional highway engineer himself, Davies draws on recent archaeological evidence to investigate the contributing features for the durability and accuracy of the network. Fully illustrated sections discuss surveying methods, the physical structure of the roads, the significance of their dimensions, the means use to cross and ford rivers and maintenance methods. Davis also considers reference to Roman roads in contemporary sources, the relation of roads to the development of Roman towns and the reasons for the reuse and survival of so many of the roads. The book includes a gazetteer of roads. This very accessable and useful study requires no previous knowledge of Roman roads or road engineering.