What did the Romans do for the A303?

  • Historians believe the route of this section of the A303 follows a major Roman road to Ilchester.
  • The famous Fosse Way can be found on the nearby A37 to Yeovil. This was a Roman road built during the first and second centuries that linked Exeter in the South West and Lincoln to the North East, via Ilchester, Bath, Cirencester and Leicester.
  • The Romans were famous for building long, straight roads.
  • Our archaeologists have been digging some holes in the ground to see if they can find any interesting old objects that will tell us more about the people who used to live here.
  • Archaeology is the study of humans by finding and studying things from the past, like ruins of old buildings, roads or old coins and pots.

Activity

The Romans built roads so that the army could march from one place to another. They tried to build the roads as straight as possible, so that the army could take the shortest route to arrive faster at their destination. The diagram below shows a cross section of a Roman road.

Can you put the labels in the correct places?

  1. At the bottom of the trench the Romans put a big layer of stones.
  2. Broken stones, cement, pebbles and sand to make a firm base.
  3. Cement mixed with broken tiles.
  4. Paving stones formed the surface of the road. These were cut so they fitted together tightly.
  5. Kerb stones at the sides held in the paving stones and made a channel for the water to run away.

Activity Answer