Monument record 1897/1 - Major Roman Road Route 570 (Water Newton to Thrapston)

A Roman road branching from Ermine Street at Water Newton. From there it follows a fairly straight course through Warmington, Barnwell and Thorpe Waterville to Thrapston. Less clearly it can be traced beyond from Denford, past Ringstead and Stanwixck to Higham Ferrers. Here it swings westward to follow a straight course to the Roman town at Irchester.

{1} In Titchmarsh parish the road's medieval name was 'Harrow Way' suggesting a possible temple site; a junction with the Roman road was called 'Harrow Way'.

{2} Romano-British road running from Waternewton to Thrapston.

{3} Water Newton to Titchmarsh Roman road. Mapping of route provided. The road reappears south-west of Barnwell Castle, on the same alignment as the modern Well Lane (TL04848518 to TL04738501). After passing through the old station yard and crossing the railway it meets the present Thrapston to Oundle road (the A604). For the next 6.5km the line of the Roman road coincides with the almost straight modern road, passing the two Roman and Iron Age settlements in Thorpe Achurch. Definite remains of the road appear south-west of Warmington (at TL07439085) and can be traced as a mainly straight track which runs south-west and passes along the eastern side of the prehistoric and Roman settlements at Tansor Grange. This track meets an old lane running east from Ashton (at TL06138837) beyond which it cannot be traced.

{4} The road between the Roman settlement at Titchmarsh and Water Newton is thought to run along the line of the present A605 to the north-east of Warmington.

{5} Titchmarsh has an extensive, complex and relatively well-defined network of roads, similar in overall conception to those at Irchester and Ashton. Essentially they can be divided into two; first two main regional routes running northeast to southwest along the Nene (Margary 1973, route 570) and south east to north west across it (the Gartree Road 57a); second, the sinuous dendritic network of shorter roads or track ways that provided access through the core of the settlement and presumably to the neighbouring landscape. Air photographic evidence defines the course of Gartree road immediately to the east of the settlement and shows its junction with route 570 running northeast towards Ashton and Durobrivae. The latter route, however, does not appear to have continued south of this junction along the south eastern side of the Nene and it seems probable that if it continued towards Irchester it did so along the north western side of the valley.

{6} In 1972 a sewerage trench across the line of the road south-west of Barnwell Castle revealed limestone cobbling nearly 4m wide.

Aerial photographs taken in 2013 by English Heritage as part of the Reconnaissance Recording Programme show the faint cropmark remains of the Roman Road west of Water Newton Lodge extending northwards from the bend in the present lane to the south which fossilises the course of the road. The cropmarks indicate the road following a staighter course heading from the lane to the eastern side of Crow Spinney rather than the projected course following the course of the footpath and former field boundary which heads through Crow Spinney. The significance of this is the revised course skirts the eastern side of two Iron Age or Roman superimposed rectilinear enclosures at TL 1017 9559, visible as cropmarks adjacent to the road. The former projected route would have cut through the enclosures.

<1> Belgion H., 1979, Titchmarsh Past and Present, p.16 (part checked) (Book). SNN39865.

<2> 1973, Margary 1973, p.216 Route 570 (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN4901.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.116-119 (part checked) (Series). SNN77379.

<4> Northamptonshire Archaeology Unit, 1993, A605 Warmington Bypass and Tansor Improvements: Archaeological Evaluation 1991-1993, p.7 (checked) (Report). SNN70164.

<5> Taylor J., 2000, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Titchmarsh (Roman), p.8-9 (part checked) (Report). SNN106660.

<6> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1973, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1972, p.5 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN8956.

<7> Oblique Aerial Photograph, 27812_05915-JUL-2013 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 8:04PM