11-09-2019, 02:23 PM
Personally I think there is something in it, but I am really not very qualified to comment. I heard of it a few months ago in a second hand pers comm that I can't reference here. This is the only paper on it I have found yet hence reaching out on here to see if I have missed something
The ridge north of the Nene is a watershed that divided the country to this day so may have been significant as a boundary even pre-Roman. The area seems to have been the meeting point of the territories of the Catuvellauni, Dobunni, Cornovii and Coritani. Maybe the Watford Gap was a nationally significant point even before McDonalds and Costa put in their franchises. The Nene-Avon line is a really obvious line to draw across the country for navigation, communications as well as defence. The Avon, Ouse, Nene, and Thames (Cherwell) all essentially rise at Hellidon making the connection almost complete with a significant central node in that area.
I = Nene
II = Ouse
III = Cherwell (Thames)
IV = Avon
Bakers certainty about the Roman origin of Castle Yard as a fulcrum in the line makes a lot of sense to me. I have been thinking that would be a good location for a central stores, (as in the later Weedon Depot) in the long term but the Nene line point is well made and aligned to that idea. This would make the Castle Yard valley a known and prepared position by 61ad in time for Paulinus and Boudicca to pitch up there for their party.
So I guess I think it is more than plausible that the Nene Avon line was a distinct possibility in 47AD but also that the centre of the line was even more significant in unpicking communication in an early Roman and pre-Roman context. If the line is good I would imagine there is a lot more to find in the Nene landscape from forts to roads.... there seems to be a small fort at Wilton/Bannaventa and I'm looking into a 19th century report that the enclosure at Wadenhoe is a large roman camp, first instinct is that if it is it is related to 61ad and bottling up the Iceni, but a 47ad origin would work too.
The ridge north of the Nene is a watershed that divided the country to this day so may have been significant as a boundary even pre-Roman. The area seems to have been the meeting point of the territories of the Catuvellauni, Dobunni, Cornovii and Coritani. Maybe the Watford Gap was a nationally significant point even before McDonalds and Costa put in their franchises. The Nene-Avon line is a really obvious line to draw across the country for navigation, communications as well as defence. The Avon, Ouse, Nene, and Thames (Cherwell) all essentially rise at Hellidon making the connection almost complete with a significant central node in that area.
I = Nene
II = Ouse
III = Cherwell (Thames)
IV = Avon
Bakers certainty about the Roman origin of Castle Yard as a fulcrum in the line makes a lot of sense to me. I have been thinking that would be a good location for a central stores, (as in the later Weedon Depot) in the long term but the Nene line point is well made and aligned to that idea. This would make the Castle Yard valley a known and prepared position by 61ad in time for Paulinus and Boudicca to pitch up there for their party.
So I guess I think it is more than plausible that the Nene Avon line was a distinct possibility in 47AD but also that the centre of the line was even more significant in unpicking communication in an early Roman and pre-Roman context. If the line is good I would imagine there is a lot more to find in the Nene landscape from forts to roads.... there seems to be a small fort at Wilton/Bannaventa and I'm looking into a 19th century report that the enclosure at Wadenhoe is a large roman camp, first instinct is that if it is it is related to 61ad and bottling up the Iceni, but a 47ad origin would work too.
