We returned to the Winchester - London Roman Road in September 2024, where a strange feature had been found on the edge of Chawton Park Wood. It was a 60 Roman foot wide ditch with running lanes on both edges. But air photos suggested a light line in the middle of this ditch - not found in excavations in the wood. An excavation in the field in September 2022 found the clay had risen up with large amount of crushed flint, but disturbed by the plough. We carried out an excavation in the Wood clear of trees and orange material came up under the thin Top Soil containing various sized flints. We have been able to trace this material in the original 2009 excavation in difficult conditions among trees. There was a running lane in the middle of this ditch. We have found from a visit to Hadrian's Wall that it was Roman practice to have running lanes on the edges of ditches - but this one is more complicate - and will be written up for publication.
The machine excavations at the Roman site thought to be CLAUSENTUM by A32 at Exton was completed in 2023, with all Streets and Roman Road Lanes in the positions and widths suggested by the LIDAR. The Streets are near N - S and E - W, the Roman Road Lanes run diagonally across the site. This is being written up and will be available by site in the Field Programme.
Attendance at our 2023-4 digs was low, thought due to the cost of living crisis, so will not have further digs on the Chichester Roman Road until this crisis has waned. A fourth Roman site has been established on Chidden Down, and field work is finding the Chichester Road's route out of Coombe Wood towards Clanfield.
There will be field work on Roman Road from Winchester to Chichester, generally on Saturdays or Sundays. The Chichester Road survey is nearing Clanfield east of Old Winchester Hill. It was found that the Iron Age Hill Fort there had extensive outer defences. We have found the same at Caesar's Camp near Farnham - where similar evidence has been found. To join the Email Field Programme, Email us through Contact Us button above.