Why the Romans built a road to nowhere

Archant Regional -- where Norfolk really matters ^ | Tuesday, June 27, 2006 | Keiron Pim

[SunkenCiv]

The Romans were a methodical people, not given to acts of folly - so why did they apparently build a road to nowhere? Known as the Peddars Way, it is a typically straight track marching from near Thetford directly through the heart of west Norfolk until it peters out at an isolated coastal spot at Holme, and is now favoured by walkers and cyclists... There was a Roman settlement at nearby Brancaster, known as Branodunum, but if that had been the destination they would surely have gone straight there instead of hitting the coastline and then meandering eastwards for a couple of miles... Peddars Way was one of a number of routes that the Romans carved through East Anglia, and was probably finished around 70 AD. Its name is more recent, however, referring to its use as a thoroughfare for pedlars. It has been designated a National Trail, and runs from Knettishall Heath near Thetford for 46 miles to the sea, passing near Anmer, Fring and Ringstead before meeting the dunes at Holme. Andrew says there is little else quite like it.

[SunkenCiv]

---

Peddars Way near Great Massingham.

---

[SunkenCiv]

Hadrian had a road built from the site of Antinoos (named after his catamite, who drowned there) on the Nile all the way across expanses of nowhere, over to the Red Sea, in an attempt to give the new artificial town some kind of economic life. It has been said that the only use of the road was by the construction workers who built it.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[NormsRevenge]

all roads lead to Rome, even the ones that don't go anywhere, uhhh,,

Thanks for the post.

[thoughtomator]

Obviously it was an earmark, courtesy of the Senator from Brittanica.

[SunkenCiv]

"Holme" in the article apparently refers to Holme Hale.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Thetford&output=html&zoom=7&zp=UUUIUUUIRRO

[JRios1968]

The Honorable Teddus Stevensonius had it in his earmarks.

[Defiant]

"It is interesting in ways that are very different from the rest of Britain. The Romans never subjugated Wales, and didn't really get their hands on Scotland, but in England by and large they were assimilated into the everyday English life.

Funny, since the English weren't actually in England until the Roman rule collapsed. They were a tribe in Northern Germany at the time. I think the guy meant to say that in the parts of Britain that later became England, the Romans assimilated into British life.

[marsh2]

I thought the Angles were there. It was the Saxons that came later. I think some of the Angles then migrated to the French coast.

[the invisib1e hand]

Why the Romans built a road to nowhere

public works project. totally consistent with the decline of a great empire.

[rahbert]

Is it a road like Texas 121, specially build so Sam Rayburn
could get from Bonham to the cutting horse shows in Ft Worth?

[ovrtaxt]

in an attempt to give the new artificial town some kind of economic life.

Kind of like Rte 66 in reverse.

[Larry Lucido]

Ran into an ancient archeological dig? Wetlands? Endangered species habitat? Indian burial ground?

[blam]

"Funny, since the English weren't actually in England until the Roman rule collapsed. They were a tribe in Northern Germany at the time. "

I don't know about that. History teacher Adrian Targett can trace his roots in England back 9,000 years.

Descendent Of Stone-Age Skeleton Found

[Petronski]

I enjoy the GGG threads very much, thanks. But that font gives me a headache.

[Graymatter]

Hadrian's road from Antinoopolis to the Red Sea was intended to put the town on the map, economically, by establishing a rival to the main trade route along the Wadi Hammamat, the popular (and critical) trade route to Arabia and beyond.
According to some, it did put a dent in the rival. See page 35 here...

http://assets.cambridge.org/052147/1370/sample/0521471370web.pdf

[elli1]

Why? Seafood?

[ckilmer]

I thought the Angles were there. It was the Saxons that came later. I think some of the Angles then migrated to the French coast.
//////////////
England was invaded in the 400's AD by three tribes from Northern Germany: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes.

England was raided and settled from the north by the Vikings in the 800-900's.

One Viking group had settled in Normandy France by 1000 AD. In 1066 Normandy invaded England. That was the Norman invasion. These folk took over the rule of England from the saxon kings.

In the 1600's English royals mixed with Scottish nobility and in the early 1800's English royals mixed with German nobility from Hanover.

[neb52]

The road could of been stopped to send the troops else where in Briton and then never returned to complete. The beginning of it could of been to reach hostile locals to pacify. IMHO

[Defiant]

That man is a descendent of the people who walked to Britain before it was an island. They predated the Celts, and there is still some trace of their existence in the DNA of the inhabitants of Britain. But they are not English, they were probably not even Indo-European. They may be the people who built Stonehenge, although the Celts claim that, too.

In any event, the English were a tribe in northern Germany, the "Angles", as were the Saxons. The Angles were looking for good farmland, and started a movement of their people to Britain, and took land by force. This started in the late 400s and early 500s, when the Romans had buggered out and there was no effective government or military to defend the Isle. After a while, the original natives were driven out or absorbed, and the part of Britain where the Angles were concentrated came to be known as "Angle-land", i.e., England.

So, this road was built in a part of the Island of Britain which later became England, but it did not help assimilate the English to Roman rule. It may have helped the Celtic tribes in that part of Britain.

[Defiant]

The Angles and the Saxons were part of the same migration. The inhabitants of Britain at the time of the Romans were Celtic, and spoke a Celtic language that was similar to Irish. Welsh is similar to what would have been spoken on Britain in those days. Irish, because it was peopled by different tribes and was isolated from Britain by water, was more distinct in its language and culture.

When the Anglo-Saxon invasion came, it was sometimes brutal. Think Americans taking land from the Indians. Many Britains chose to sail to the continent to join their Celtic pals in what is now France, but which at that time was Gaul. Gaul was also a Celtic land, and the Britains would have been at home there. So many British people moved to the Gallic coast that it came to be known as Brittany. Until recent times, the rural parts of Brittany still had dialects reltated to the celtic language spoken in Britain before the Anglo-Saxon invasion.

France did not come into existence until Frankish invasions that took over the whole country, and melded a Celtic land with a Germanic one. Franks were Germans.

Normandy did not exist until a Viking invasion that took over that part of France around 900 or so. Normans were Norsemen who liked the lifestyle in France, and chose to stay. They kicked out the local nobles, learned French, but still had a bit of Viking in them when, in 1066, they invaded the Isle of Britain and toppled the English kingdom on that Island.

This is a very brief summary. I hope it helps.