Monument record 3141/1/4 - Major Roman road

{1} Roman road; Irchester to Kempston; Viatores route 170A; Irchester to Dungee Corner, Bozeat

{2} SP91906540 to 92906000

{3} This road enters the area from the south, at Dungee Corner. Its original source is not known with certainty though it is alleged to have been traced as far as Kempston, Bedfordshire. On the evidence of its last known alignment to the south east in Harrold parish, Bedfordshire, it is said to run through Dungee Wood, entering the county on the north west side of the wood (at SP 93045951). There is at this point a slight stony rise in the present arable land, just under 1m high and 6m across, traceable for some 25m running in a north north west direction. The road should then have run on this alignment, converging on Green Lane until it meets the latter at its junction with the modern road to Hinwick (SP 92806033). However no trace of an agger is visible either on the ground or on air photographs. For the next 3.5 km. the almost straight Green Lane marking the Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire county boundary appears to be roughly on the Roman road alignment, though much distorted, and again there is no indication of any agger where the present lane curves off the straight alignment.
Towards the north end of this section the Green Lane meets the modern road from Wollaston (at SP 92056390) and continues north for 300m as the B569 road until it reaches the Irchester parish boundary. From there the modern road runs north, on a different alignment, to the west end of Irchester village (SP 91886542) and there is no indication of a Roman origin. Beyond Irchester village there is again no trace in the fields; from there, almost to the walls of the Roman town of Irchester, the area has been worked for ironstone. In the field north of the ironstone quarry and immediately south of the Roman town (SP 91756642) air photographs show a soil mark extending north north west towards the South Gate of the town (HER number 1641/9). No traces of a road were noted in the excavations carried out on this site in 1962-3 but as these took place after stripping for road works the remains of the Roman road could have been destroyed.

<1> 1964, The Viatores: Roman Roads in The South East Midlands, p.290-3 (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN5299.

<2> 1973, Margary 1973, p.188 (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN4901.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, P. 188 (checked) (Series). SNN77380.

Record last edited

Sep 30 2013 4:19PM