SOUTHERN FOSSE OF VALLUM BETWEEN MAGNA AND ESICA, LOOKING EASTWARD, WITH
WHINSHIELDS, THE HIGHEST HILL CROSSED BY THE WALL, IN THE DISTANCE.

(From a water-colour drawing by Miss M. Coulson.)

CHAPTER XIII

THE OBLITERATION OF THE ROMAN HIGHWAY SYSTEM, AND THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF MODERN ROADS.

Existing Roman remains survivals of fifteen centuries of obliteration-Objects of the Roman highway system ceased to exist on withdrawal of the legions-Unfavourable conditions to road-making during the two succeeding centuriesPortions of Roman highways became basis of a new national system-Nomenclature of the new system-The four great roads-Are mentioned both in Anglo-Saxon and Norman laws-The most prominent feature in the mediæval road system-Impetus to road-making after the Norman Conquest -Erection of castles, monasteries, and fortified townsLarge amount of travelling during Middle Ages-Royal Itineraries-Hospitality to travellers at monasteries and castles-Fairs and markets-Growth of foreign trade-Road maintenance under the common law and the feudal system-Aid to travellers a 'pious work'-Guilds for making roads and bridges-Grant of indulgences for performance of such works-Chapels on bridges-Inadequacy of legal provisions necessitated constant applications to Parliament―Theoretical provisions for safety of travellers equally ineffectiveMediæval carriages-Coaches not generally used till the seventeenth century-Travelling on horseback almost universal-Mediæval system sufficient for requirements of the period-Injurious effects of the 'Black Death,' of destruction of feudal system, and of dissolution of the monasteries-No new roads constructed between 1503 and 1702—Inadequacy of

the parochial system and the earlier highway Acts-The introduction of the turnpike system-Its merits-Deplorable condition of roads in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries--Growth of the turnpike system in spite of strong opposition-Mileage and cost of turnpike roads-Blind Jack of Knaresborough-Roman standard of excellence not regained till the beginning of the nineteenth century-Telford -Mileage of roads constructed by him in Scotland-The Holyhead road-Introduction in England by Macadam of a system similar, but inferior, to that of Telford-Superiority of Irish roads due to the grand juries-Financial difficulties of turnpike trustees-Introduction of the railway system and the abolition of forced labour on roads-Condemnation of the turnpike system in 1871-Expenses of highway maintenance thrown on ratepayers after its discontinuanceExisting highway authorities-Comparison between the Roman and the existing highway systems.

THE various monuments of the Roman occupation described in the three previous chapters are the survivals of what may be termed a process of obliteration, which began with the departure of the legions and has extended over nearly fifteen centuries, and comprises two distinct phases-first, that of neglect and disuse, during which comparatively few new roads were made; and, secondly, that of the actual destruction of the old roads by the creation of the modern highway system, in connection with which it must be remembered that after the old Roman roads were broken up their materials were frequently used for the construction of roads of more recent origin. The history of British highways during this period thus not only forms the closing chapter of that of the Roman highway system, but also constitutes a valuable basis for comparing the civilization of the old Roman province with that of Britain during its development as an in

dependent State; and though it would be obviously beyond the scope of this work to review that history in detail, we propose to consider some of its more important features.

1. The first of the two phases of obliteration above mentioned may be said to have been in operation from the abandonment of Britain by the Empire in A.D. 406 to the passing of the first Turnpike Act in 1663, or during a period of nearly four times the length of that of the Roman occupation. In Britain, as throughout the Western Empire, the Roman highway system, which long continued to be maintained in Asia Minor and elsewhere where the Imperial tradition was preserved by the new Empire which arose in the East, necessarily began to fall into decay on the downfall of the mothercity which had been its centre. The weak point in that system was, as has been pointed out by the author of Travel in the First Century,** that all roads led to Rome,' and but few from province to province; and on the collapse of the central power the want of cohesion between the various provinces of the Empire resulting from this defect rendered them an easy prey to their barbarian invaders, who had neither the will nor the capacity to utilize the results of Roman civilization. Though more fortunate than other provinces in its insular position, Britain was equally powerless to stem the great wave of barbarism which engulfed the Roman world. The objects of both the military and the colonial roads ceased to exist on the withdrawal of the Roman garrison from Britain. The commercial roads similarly lost their importance through the destruction

* P. 143.

of commercial enterprise throughout Europe, and the grant of their freedom to the British cities by Honorius converted them into so many separate communities under provincial governors, the mutual jealousies of which effectually prevented the maintenance of any national system of highways. When not engaged in internal conflicts, these cities were fully occupied in repelling the invasions of the Picts and the Saxons, and the close of the stormy independence maintained by them for barely fifty years was followed by the scarcely less disturbed period which witnessed the gradual formation of the Saxon Heptarchy, the last kingdom of which, Mercia, was founded more than a century after Kent, the first, and was not included in a United England until the early part of the ninth century.

Unfavourable, however, as were the conditions for their maintenance during at least the first 200 years of the period under consideration, the old Roman roads, though diverted from their original objects, were nevertheless partially preserved, on the one hand by the permanence of their structure, and on the other by the fact that they still supplied the only means of communication between different parts of the kingdomfrom the coast to London, from London to the North, from the East to the extreme West, and between those towns which, as already noticed,* preserved their existence by compounding with the Saxons. Mr. Pearson, who believes Saxon England to have been studded over with townships, owing their existence to the establishment of a port or a market, an abbey or diocesan palace, etc., and with populations varying from 200 to * Pp. 145, 146.