There has never been a better time for lovers of Roman roads – those seeking, and seeking to understand, the indelible but elusive lines tattooed onto the face of Britain by the Roman occupiers long ago. Thanks to new technologies and the recent labours of archaeologists and the Roman Roads Research Association, we can track and map thousands of miles of road more accurately than ever before and explain the extraordinary role that they played in the military, social and economic life of Roman Britain, as well as during the centuries that followed.
Roman roads might be unique in the archaeological record. I cannot think of a comparable artefact – something built in antiquity to a standard not surpassed for nearly two millennia – which is still used today for its original purpose and still influences our lives, dictates where we travel, determines which places prosper, and survives as other things too that we find useful: a footpath, a boundary, the subject of a photographic work of art. It is as if an amphora were still being used to store and transport olive oil.
