BBC - Romans - Roads and Places

12 July 2009
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	In Roman times people travelling round Britain would either ride on horseback, drive carts pulled by oxen, or walk. All the roads they had to travel along would be straight. Winding roads may be interesting to walk along but it takes you a lot longer to get where you are going and bandits and robbers can be hiding around bends. Roman roads were carefully built to slope down from the middle to ditches on either side. This way the rain would drain away and not make the road too muddy.
	Near the borders of Roman Britain the country could still be quite wild. People who lived here were often farmers. These farmers lived in small villages of round wooden houses with thatched roofs, much as they had before the Romans arrived. Some wealthy Romans would also live near to towns, in villas. Villas were large farms with a luxurious house for the owners (the workers lived in ordinary houses made of wood). Villas would often have rooms with painted walls and mosaic floors, and even central heating. Most of the villas were only found in the South of England.
	Often towns grew up near to forts and we can tell this today by their names. If a place name includes the words 'chester' or 'cester', it is because it is on the site of a Roman fort e.g. Chester, Gloucester, and Manchester. The word 'chester' comes from the Roman word for a fort - 'castrum'. Most towns would also have shops and a market place called a forum. At one end of the forum was a large building called the basilica. This was a cross between a law court and a town hall. The magistrates carried out all the important business here.


	When they were building roads in a boggy place, Romans would build the foundations with sticks and sheepskins to stop them sinking.


	The Romans buried their dead along the roads leading away from towns. It was hoped that this way the ghosts would not return to their old homes.

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