a charity registered in England & Wales, no  1163854.

The Roman Roads Research Association was formed to advance knowledge of the Roman road network and promote the study of Roman roads and Roman heritage throughout the British Isles. Our work is inspired by Ivan D. Margary whose “Roman Roads in Britain ” (1955) remains the most comprehensive gazetteer ever compiled. As we approached our first birthday, RRRA was extremely proud to mark the 40th anniversary of his death by hosting the inaugural Ivan D Margary Memorial Conferences. Programmes for the conferences, and a selection of the papers presented, are still available by clicking the “2016 Conferences” tab above.

The RRRA is working on updating and enhancing in a comprehensive way what Margary started.

Introducing R.R.R.A.

We listened to ideas from the wonderful range of delegates at our 2016 Ivan D Margary Memorial Conferences and are pleased to put in place the first additions to RRRA’s website created as a result of their suggestions.

FORUM

This is a Forum for just about every known Roman road in Britain. Access is restricted initially to our membership during the test period, after which it will visible to all visitors to the site.  We invite all RRRA members to join in the discussion threads, and start new ones.

RESOURCES

There are an increasing number of excellent online resources from many organisations freely available to researchers, but often not well known or easy to find. Our new Resources section includes everything from Historic mapping to LiDAR.  We hope it will be of help to everyone - let us know if there is a useful site we’ve missed!

This road has long been speculated about, but its route never proven. Last summer, Altogether Archaeology carried out an excavation near Hexham which established that the road is real, at least at that end. Their excavation report is available here. Previous unpublished research by Bryn Gethin & Hugh Toller identified a series of features on lidar and aerial photographs which indicate the course of the road for much of its length, but there is still much to do. RRRA will be conducting further work on the road later this year.  Details of how members can get involved will be published early summer.

An Impressive Example of Roman Road Engineering

This section of the Roman road from Manchester to York, at High Moor, Saddleworth (Margary 712), has been known for some time, and was photographed from the air in 1970 by the late Professor Barri Jones. This recent image (April 2017), taken with the RRRA drone, shows the features of this unexplained and impressive example of Roman engineering very well. The multiple ditches, and engineered bank only run for a few hundred metres, before returning to a more standard form of Roman road construction.

Road

Large ditch and quarry pits

Engineered bank

Double ditches

Double ditches

We intend to refresh the home page photo on a frequent basis. We would  be pleased to consider contributions from members and non-members alike for potential use on this page, and for use in the gazetteer as it develops.

38 metres (126 ft)

Work has been progressing on the Gazetteer of Roman roads in Yorkshire, and should be complete by the end of May, when it will all go live at the same time. The gazetteer will be accessed through an interactive map, and will be a pilot for the rest of the country.

Other News

From 8th April to 10th September, the Tullie House museum in Carlisle is hosting an exhibition entitle ”Hadrian’s Cavalry” revealing how the Roman Cavalry was organised and the crucial role it played in Carlisle, across the wall and throughout the whole Roman Empire. The exhibition features the Crosby Garrett Helmet.