Roman Roads in Britain

Description

The vast networks of roads throughout the Roman Empire were vital to the expansion of Roman culture, power and influence across the world and one of their principal uses was the transportation of the Legions to strategic bases in the most direct way possible. This book details the planning, construction and maintenance of these road networks, and discusses the different types of Roman road found in areas of Britain, and their many uses. With photographs of surviving roads in Britain and a list of where they are still in use, Roman Roads is a perfect introduction to a Roman legacy that exists to this day.

Hugh Davies graduated in Applied Mathematics at the University of Wales, Swansea in 1962 and spent much of his working life working as a scientist on various aspects of modern road design, retiring in 1994. Two years later he began a study of Roman roads, in the Archaeology and Classics Departments of Reading University, gaining a PhD in 2001. Since then he has written several books and articles, both on Roman roads and road-making in other periods of Britain's history. He is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society. He is also the author of 'Roads in Roman Britain' and 'From Trackways to Motorways: 5000 Years of Highway History'.

"Written by a civil engineer who wrote a PhD on the study of Roman roads, Roman Roads in Britain really is a perfect introduction to one legacy of Romano-Britain that can still be seen, and driven on, today... This book...is jammed with well-written, interesting information, detailing the vast network of roads that extended Rome's influence across its northernmost province, their construction and their maintenance." --British Heritage (July 2009)