Since the Romans were in Britain for nearly four hundred years, it’s not surprising that there is still a good deal of evidence of their road-building activities. Up until the 1960s, when motorway building became widespread, many of the main roads in Britain followed the same routes as Roman ones. The straight lines that were such a characteristic of Roman road systems are still visible all over the countryside. And many of the roads still have their old names.

One of the main arteries of Roman Britain was called the Fosse Way, running right across the country from south-west to north-east. Later, Roman engineers built a 112-mile (180km) link road that went north to join up with another major route, Watling Street. That link road came to be known as Icknield Street, and a stretch of it still exists north of Birmingham, untouched by modern road builders.

Exercise - Vocabulary

Look at the definitions below. Each one is for a word in bold in the text. Choose the word or expression from the list on the right which matches the definition.