Hi all
A couple of questions...
No.1 Were Roman Milestones placed every mile along roads? or
No.2 Were they just indicators of distance/time to travel, to the next town for example...ie Whilst on the march if Legionaries passed one would they then know that the next town was a days march away, hence that is why there are relatively few surviving considering the mileage of Roman roads.
Thanks in advance
Kevin
Quote:No.1 Were Roman Milestones placed every mile along roads?
Yes. They were placed at milestations so you could often find several in one place (the current one and some oldies lying around). Note that the length of the Roman mile varied, even within one province (human error, personal whim, confusion with local 'miles' etc etc).
Quote:No.2 Were they just indicators of distance/time to travel, to the next town for example...ie Whilst on the march if Legionaries passed one would they then know that the next town was a days march away, hence that is why there are relatively few surviving considering the mileage of Roman roads.
Probably so few survive because they were an excellent source of building material. Here's one being a gatepost. Comparatively few of those with inscriptions actually include distances, most being more obsessed with who set them up (although many of those inscriptions, being late, may be secondary or even tertiary over earlier painted inscriptions; we just don't know). It may just have been second nature to tally them as you passed, but here's one in the BM with the distance to Caerhun.
Mike Bishop
(who has become dangerously obsessed with milestones of late)
You know my method. It is founded upon the observance of trifles
Here is a picture I took some years back of the one near the Fort of Vindolanda on the Stanegate Frontier, it stands on the north side of the Roman road now known as the Stanegate just north of the fort. I am 5ft 7ins tall so with some of it missing at the top just how large was it in it's Roman days. If one travels westward from this paticular spot there is yet another a Roman mile at the main entrance route into Vindolanda.
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I do believe there is another one at Housesteads Fort on Hadrian's Wall which I discovered some years ago of about the same size as the one at Vindolanda.
Thats a Menhir not a milestone....lol
Within the next 2 weeks i shall be tracing the course of the Roman road that runs from North Tawton camp in Devon to Exeter, a fair few mile is still trackable, so i shall take my camera and look for unusual stones in the field boundaries.
Thanks for the info Gentelmen
Kevin
Sorry - missed this but saw your message on FB, Kevin. I've answered there too but there's a description of the route (albeit brief) in Margary's Roman Roads of Britain Vol One, page 111
Moi Watson
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Merlot in one hand, Cigar in the other; body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, what a ride!
Hi all
I have since aquired the said "Bible" part 1. Route 492 that i was interested in seems to be straight forward combined with Google Earth. Now what interests me more is route 491. Totally off the beaten track compared to the modern road, worth while investigating in these modern times, this is about to happen by myself so dont expect miricales. Maybee a basic update, but who knows.
Kevin
