THE Roman Milestone PROBLEM [14:43]

Transcript
· 8000 MileStones
0:00 · [Music]
0:03 · it's said that there's over 8,000 Roman Milestones that remain today in what was
0:09 · the entire Roman Empire but here in Britain only 95 have ever been found with maybe a dozen more
0:16 · recorded but now lost all those 95 the vast majority are in museums which is great but
0:23 · only 95 surely there's more than that so where are the Roman milestones and is it possible to
0:30 · find one the vast majority of my life I've been walking and cycling old routs a fascination with
0:37 · the landscape and how it shaped the lives of those that walked it before me lately I've
0:43 · been wondering how I should spend my time I'm not getting any younger I don't get me wrong I
0:49 · love this film making journey I feel like I'm doing my bit for sure but what if I discovered
0:56 · something what if I found something that no one had recognized before
1:02 · me and what if that Discovery offered something to this community something
1:07 · would leave my mark on the world you see the meaning of life is to score a
1:11 · victory for Humanity however small that may be so let's go find A Roman [Music]
1:21 · Milestone this is Salisbury plane and I'm now walking part of a 250y Old Turnpike Road well
· The Milestones
1:31 · actually that is debated but either way it's a 250y old road now this abandoned route went
1:38 · from B to Salisbury it was called The Old Slow Coach now just up ahead I'm expecting to find
1:47 · an old Milestone if we look at the old Maps well it should tell us that b was in that direction 23
1:54 · mil and ahead of us in that direction would have been serum or Salisbury at 13 mil um that's it's
2:02 · a bit of a muddy Trek here it is look at this okay so can't see any rot on this side but if
2:11 · we have a look around here to the back we can see on this 250-year-old uh Turnpike Milestone
2:18 · we've got 13 from sarum I can't really make out the rest but it should say 23 uh from Bath great
2:26 · stuff well we found this Turnpike Milestone now shouldn't this be relatively easy for the Roman
2:32 · Milestone I presume they're on all the old Maps just like this one and they're everywhere in fact
2:40 · with 10,000 Miles of Roman roads in the UK in theory maybe just maybe there were 10,000 Roman
2:49 · Milestones so the only other thing we need to consider is the distance of a Roman mile
2:56 · you see today's mile is 1,690.34 Metres now the Romans had that down to 1,000 Milli ,1,000 Paces
3:06 · now that equates to 1,480 M so slightly less let's factor that in let's crack on and find some Roman
3:15 · Milestones. okay so I gathered a whole bunch of images or at least sketches of Roman milestones
· What am I looking for?
3:24 · and it turns out we have quite a range of shapes and sizes to consider anything from
3:29 · UPR right pillars to pillow shaped rectangular rocks and that potentially makes things a
3:35 · little bit trickier we'll come back to that shortly I've traveled to a place near Calleva
3:40 · Atrebatum a major Roman settlement now that settlement is mentioned three or four times
3:47 · in What's called the antonine itineries which are like root Maps um they guide you from town
3:54 · to town There's very little evidence that remains sort of around today that can help
3:59 · us with the journey but I think the Antonine Inters might well be one of [Applause] them
4:07 · now Calleva Atrebatum has five major routes heading off in each Direction and lo and
4:13 · behold we have a potential Milestone on the OS map it's marked IM short for impor imp impor
4:23 · impor okay we're just about here on on site um about 100 yard or so away it's on a main
4:34 · road now I don't I don't claim to have found this one because it does appear on a map but judging
4:42 · by the pictures and that I've seen the Google Images well it looks like we're in for quite a
4:47 · treat okay here it is now this is the first Roman Milestone I've ever seen in situ this is
5:00 · a big tick for me but something's not quite right because well firstly we aren't near a Roman Road
5:08 · the nearest road is maybe 800 M north of here and more importantly we have no Latin inscriptions on
5:16 · this one absolutely no indication this was ever Roman so what exactly is going on here it turns
5:22 · out that antiquarian William stukeley decided that this was indeed Roman despite the fact that it had
5:29 · no Roman inscriptions and it's not on a Roman Road quite some distance from One OS got excited back
5:36 · in 1838 and stuck it on the map and it remains there to this day so now we know what we're
5:43 · looking for pretty much anything at all shape and sizewise let's knuckle down what's next in this
5:50 · Quest okay so before we start hunting on the ground because yes I am hunting on the ground
· Red Herrings
5:59 · shortly let's have a look at one that was found in Northwest Hampshire in a ditch by the side of
6:05 · a country road literally just here well on the edge of the field there it was found next to a
6:12 · Roman villa now that's great because it's safely now in Winchester Museum and we have an image
6:18 · of it so we know exactly what we're looking for when we're trying to identify a Roman Milestone
6:25 · kind of now that the issue we have here is that not only does this Roman Milestone not contain
6:34 · any miles it's also three miles or so from the nearest Roman Road now that's not to say that
6:40 · there weren't any miles on it and it's also not to say that it wasn't moved at some point
6:45 · but being found next to a villa you'd assume it was in situ it does raise a few question
6:52 · marks right I think if I'm going to start taking this this seriously I need to do two
· THE Map
7:01 · things both of which revolve around a map I love a good map and the goal remains to find
7:08 · a Roman Milestone so let's plot every Roman Milestone on a map all those that have been
7:14 · found in this country these are taken from the rib databased Roman inscriptions now I
7:21 · have plotted them across the entire country in green to indicate their found location okay uh
7:28 · there aren't that many right let's focus down south my immediate sort of travel distance and
7:34 · let's plot as well the major Roman settlements I'll put those in a kind of a house shape in
7:40 · purple now secondly if I find the center of the Roman towns or settlements I can
7:45 · then plot every 1,480 M along a Roman Road and find the spot where the Roman Milestones should
7:52 · have been now I say the center of the Roman towns as opposed to the gates for a specific
7:58 · reason I'll come back back to that later let's get [Music] plotting let's get hedge
· The Search
8:12 · [Music] diving there's probably only about two or three decent studies or books to help you sort
8:29 · of interpret Roman Milestone certainly in this country there's a 1975 study done on the geology
8:36 · of the stones which is great there's also another study done on African uh Milestones that was more
8:42 · about what sort of Road you were on Military Road or more of a a civilian Roman Road built
8:48 · a bit later a 2011 study by the Milestone society that was great because it gave a whole essence of
8:56 · the Roman Milestones that had been found again 9 5 isn't a huge data sample so one of the conclusions
9:02 · he drew was the uh the large rounded pillar type ones where they had have been on the main roads
9:07 · and these smaller rectangular ones sort of led us to believe that they were on minor roads um or
9:13 · near Villas or just anywhere okay so 95 Milestones have been found in this country in some form or
9:20 · another the odds seem to be against us the Romans were here for what over 350 years or so and to top
9:27 · all that off a quarter of those 95 Stones well they were found within 20 mi of Hadrian's Wall
9:34 · now speaking of hadrian in this country at least it's possible that he was the person responsible
9:39 · for their introduction strange notion but no examples of Roman Milestones dating prior to
9:45 · hadrian have been found absolutely nothing at all this would have been the exact spot and with that
9:50 · in mind only eight of those 95 Roman Milestones were dated prior to 240 ad now Roman Milestones
10:00 · were often reused or recut upturned cut flat started again next there something else worth
10:07 · considering too as we search well only eight of the 95 Roman Milestones actually have miles on
10:15 · them now that's not to say they didn't have Roman Milestones on them maybe it was carved off at some
10:21 · point or perhaps even painted on but only eight were used as Milestones potentially nothing here
10:35 · impression this is completely
10:37 · [Music]
· The Find
10:48 · futile [Music]
11:04 · and then I remembered something a river a Ford a town close to a main road an old Route a
11:11 · settlement north of the lead Road in Wilshire I've seen something that caught my eye someone
11:16 · had mentioned something to me a stone by a Ford have I inadvertently known about a stone all along
11:24 · was that a Roman Milestone so I found myself back on this route we've got War just that way there we
11:30 · got Salisbury over there and the A36 runs between them this route however this small Road here runs
11:36 · perpendicular to that it starts way up on Nook Camp lots of Roman fines all relating to sort
11:43 · of grain production now I believe this to be a tertiary or secondary Roman route therefore it
11:49 · went all the way that way up onto the lead road now just down there is a Ford and there was a
11:55 · stone when we came here before I just discarded it did didn't even think anything of it but now I've
12:01 · been researching all of this so much maybe just maybe this time I know what I'm looking for now
12:08 · there's a lot more water now than there was when we came here last time it's been a very wet winter
12:15 · and none of this was underwater last time so we may or may not find that our stone is completely
12:22 · buried
12:36 · I mean it's pillared shaped now we' we've got two distinctive types of Roman Milestones we've got
12:43 · pillar ones now um they were reputed to be on the main roads according to um one particular Source
12:50 · whereas the more rectangular ones were they were potentially on just sort of Villas and
12:56 · and and tertiary routes so if it was going to be milestone here you'd expect it to be rectangular
13:01 · but nevertheless this is bigger than I ever remembered this is um this is quite significant
13:07 · so I took a couple of pictures and consulted some archaeologists unfortunately it seems the general
13:12 · consensus is this is potentially a stone from a mill or perhaps even a facade on a building
13:19 · long since discarded unfortunately we're going to have to get back to the drawing board the search
· The Conclusion
13:25 · continues
13:30 · okay so today I didn't find a Roman Milestone and if I'm honest probably never thought I was
13:36 · going to but perhaps in some ways this has helped me understand a lot more about Roman
13:41 · Milestones their purpose the Milestones were perhaps that way of encouraging allegiance
13:47 · to whatever Emperor was in the Reign at the time here in Britain thousands of miles from
13:52 · Rome those stones would act as a great way of controlling the local population letting them
13:57 · know who really is his boss to the glory of Emperor whitewick may his riegn last forever
14:05 · oh and uh Winchester 10 miles that way mate and of course I've started that map so maybe just maybe
14:12 · there'll be at some point a part two I'm sure if I keep searching then something will come up I've
14:18 · been Paul I hope you've enjoyed my adventure as much as um I have frankly it's been it's
14:24 · been a real learning curve as always I'll see you this time next week [Music] hey what keep walking
14:37 · got

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Transcript
	·	8000 MileStones
0:00	·	[Music]
0:03	·	it's said that there's over 8,000 Roman Milestones that remain today in what was
0:09	·	the entire Roman Empire but here in Britain only 95 have ever been found with maybe a dozen more
0:16	·	recorded but now lost all those 95 the vast majority are in museums which is great but
0:23	·	only 95 surely there's more than that so where are the Roman milestones and is it possible to
0:30	·	find one the vast majority of my life I've been walking and cycling old routs a fascination with
0:37	·	the landscape and how it shaped the lives of those that walked it before me lately I've
0:43	·	been wondering how I should spend my time I'm not getting any younger I don't get me wrong I
0:49	·	love this film making journey I feel like I'm doing my bit for sure but what if I discovered
0:56	·	something what if I found something that no one had recognized before
1:02	·	me and what if that Discovery offered something to this community something
1:07	·	would leave my mark on the world you see the meaning of life is to score a
1:11	·	victory for Humanity however small that may be so let's go find A Roman [Music]
1:21	·	Milestone this is Salisbury plane and I'm now walking part of a 250y Old Turnpike Road well
	·	The Milestones
1:31	·	actually that is debated but either way it's a 250y old road now this abandoned route went
1:38	·	from B to Salisbury it was called The Old Slow Coach now just up ahead I'm expecting to find
1:47	·	an old Milestone if we look at the old Maps well it should tell us that b was in that direction 23
1:54	·	mil and ahead of us in that direction would have been serum or Salisbury at 13 mil um that's it's
2:02	·	a bit of a muddy Trek here it is look at this okay so can't see any rot on this side but if
2:11	·	we have a look around here to the back we can see on this 250-year-old uh Turnpike Milestone
2:18	·	we've got 13 from sarum I can't really make out the rest but it should say 23 uh from Bath great
2:26	·	stuff well we found this Turnpike Milestone now shouldn't this be relatively easy for the Roman
2:32	·	Milestone I presume they're on all the old Maps just like this one and they're everywhere in fact
2:40	·	with 10,000 Miles of Roman roads in the UK in theory maybe just maybe there were 10,000 Roman
2:49	·	Milestones so the only other thing we need to consider is the distance of a Roman mile
2:56	·	you see today's mile is 1,690.34 Metres now the Romans had that down to 1,000 Milli ,1,000 Paces
3:06	·	now that equates to 1,480 M so slightly less let's factor that in let's crack on and find some Roman
3:15	·	Milestones. okay so I gathered a whole bunch of images or at least sketches of Roman milestones
	·	What am I looking for?
3:24	·	and it turns out we have quite a range of shapes and sizes to consider anything from
3:29	·	UPR right pillars to pillow shaped rectangular rocks and that potentially makes things a
3:35	·	little bit trickier we'll come back to that shortly I've traveled to a place near Calleva
3:40	·	Atrebatum a major Roman settlement now that settlement is mentioned three or four times
3:47	·	in What's called the antonine itineries which are like root Maps um they guide you from town
3:54	·	to town There's very little evidence that remains sort of around today that can help
3:59	·	us with the journey but I think the Antonine Inters might well be one of [Applause] them
4:07	·	now Calleva Atrebatum has five major routes heading off in each Direction and lo and
4:13	·	behold we have a potential Milestone on the OS map it's marked IM short for impor imp impor
4:23	·	impor okay we're just about here on on site um about 100 yard or so away it's on a main
4:34	·	road now I don't I don't claim to have found this one because it does appear on a map but judging
4:42	·	by the pictures and that I've seen the Google Images well it looks like we're in for quite a
4:47	·	treat okay here it is now this is the first Roman Milestone I've ever seen in situ this is
5:00	·	a big tick for me but something's not quite right because well firstly we aren't near a Roman Road
5:08	·	the nearest road is maybe 800 M north of here and more importantly we have no Latin inscriptions on
5:16	·	this one absolutely no indication this was ever Roman so what exactly is going on here it turns
5:22	·	out that antiquarian William stukeley decided that this was indeed Roman despite the fact that it had
5:29	·	no Roman inscriptions and it's not on a Roman Road quite some distance from One OS got excited back
5:36	·	in 1838 and stuck it on the map and it remains there to this day so now we know what we're
5:43	·	looking for pretty much anything at all shape and sizewise let's knuckle down what's next in this
5:50	·	Quest okay so before we start hunting on the ground because yes I am hunting on the ground
	·	Red Herrings
5:59	·	shortly let's have a look at one that was found in Northwest Hampshire in a ditch by the side of
6:05	·	a country road literally just here well on the edge of the field there it was found next to a
6:12	·	Roman villa now that's great because it's safely now in Winchester Museum and we have an image
6:18	·	of it so we know exactly what we're looking for when we're trying to identify a Roman Milestone
6:25	·	kind of now that the issue we have here is that not only does this Roman Milestone not contain
6:34	·	any miles it's also three miles or so from the nearest Roman Road now that's not to say that
6:40	·	there weren't any miles on it and it's also not to say that it wasn't moved at some point
6:45	·	but being found next to a villa you'd assume it was in situ it does raise a few question
6:52	·	marks right I think if I'm going to start taking this this seriously I need to do two
	·	THE Map
7:01	·	things both of which revolve around a map I love a good map and the goal remains to find
7:08	·	a Roman Milestone so let's plot every Roman Milestone on a map all those that have been
7:14	·	found in this country these are taken from the rib databased Roman inscriptions now I
7:21	·	have plotted them across the entire country in green to indicate their found location okay uh
7:28	·	there aren't that many right let's focus down south my immediate sort of travel distance and
7:34	·	let's plot as well the major Roman settlements I'll put those in a kind of a house shape in
7:40	·	purple now secondly if I find the center of the Roman towns or settlements I can
7:45	·	then plot every 1,480 M along a Roman Road and find the spot where the Roman Milestones should
7:52	·	have been now I say the center of the Roman towns as opposed to the gates for a specific
7:58	·	reason I'll come back back to that later let's get [Music] plotting let's get hedge
	·	The Search
8:12	·	[Music] diving there's probably only about two or three decent studies or books to help you sort
8:29	·	of interpret Roman Milestone certainly in this country there's a 1975 study done on the geology
8:36	·	of the stones which is great there's also another study done on African uh Milestones that was more
8:42	·	about what sort of Road you were on Military Road or more of a a civilian Roman Road built
8:48	·	a bit later a 2011 study by the Milestone society that was great because it gave a whole essence of
8:56	·	the Roman Milestones that had been found again 9 5 isn't a huge data sample so one of the conclusions
9:02	·	he drew was the uh the large rounded pillar type ones where they had have been on the main roads
9:07	·	and these smaller rectangular ones sort of led us to believe that they were on minor roads um or
9:13	·	near Villas or just anywhere okay so 95 Milestones have been found in this country in some form or
9:20	·	another the odds seem to be against us the Romans were here for what over 350 years or so and to top
9:27	·	all that off a quarter of those 95 Stones well they were found within 20 mi of Hadrian's Wall
9:34	·	now speaking of hadrian in this country at least it's possible that he was the person responsible
9:39	·	for their introduction strange notion but no examples of Roman Milestones dating prior to
9:45	·	hadrian have been found absolutely nothing at all this would have been the exact spot and with that
9:50	·	in mind only eight of those 95 Roman Milestones were dated prior to 240 ad now Roman Milestones
10:00	·	were often reused or recut upturned cut flat started again next there something else worth
10:07	·	considering too as we search well only eight of the 95 Roman Milestones actually have miles on
10:15	·	them now that's not to say they didn't have Roman Milestones on them maybe it was carved off at some
10:21	·	point or perhaps even painted on but only eight were used as Milestones potentially nothing here
10:35	·	impression this is completely
10:37	·	[Music]
	·	The Find
10:48	·	futile [Music]
11:04	·	and then I remembered something a river a Ford a town close to a main road an old Route a
11:11	·	settlement north of the lead Road in Wilshire I've seen something that caught my eye someone
11:16	·	had mentioned something to me a stone by a Ford have I inadvertently known about a stone all along
11:24	·	was that a Roman Milestone so I found myself back on this route we've got War just that way there we
11:30	·	got Salisbury over there and the A36 runs between them this route however this small Road here runs
11:36	·	perpendicular to that it starts way up on Nook Camp lots of Roman fines all relating to sort
11:43	·	of grain production now I believe this to be a tertiary or secondary Roman route therefore it
11:49	·	went all the way that way up onto the lead road now just down there is a Ford and there was a
11:55	·	stone when we came here before I just discarded it did didn't even think anything of it but now I've
12:01	·	been researching all of this so much maybe just maybe this time I know what I'm looking for now
12:08	·	there's a lot more water now than there was when we came here last time it's been a very wet winter
12:15	·	and none of this was underwater last time so we may or may not find that our stone is completely
12:22	·	buried
12:36	·	I mean it's pillared shaped now we' we've got two distinctive types of Roman Milestones we've got
12:43	·	pillar ones now um they were reputed to be on the main roads according to um one particular Source
12:50	·	whereas the more rectangular ones were they were potentially on just sort of Villas and
12:56	·	and and tertiary routes so if it was going to be milestone here you'd expect it to be rectangular
13:01	·	but nevertheless this is bigger than I ever remembered this is um this is quite significant
13:07	·	so I took a couple of pictures and consulted some archaeologists unfortunately it seems the general
13:12	·	consensus is this is potentially a stone from a mill or perhaps even a facade on a building
13:19	·	long since discarded unfortunately we're going to have to get back to the drawing board the search
	·	The Conclusion
13:25	·	continues
13:30	·	okay so today I didn't find a Roman Milestone and if I'm honest probably never thought I was
13:36	·	going to but perhaps in some ways this has helped me understand a lot more about Roman
13:41	·	Milestones their purpose the Milestones were perhaps that way of encouraging allegiance
13:47	·	to whatever Emperor was in the Reign at the time here in Britain thousands of miles from
13:52	·	Rome those stones would act as a great way of controlling the local population letting them
13:57	·	know who really is his boss to the glory of Emperor whitewick may his riegn last forever
14:05	·	oh and uh Winchester 10 miles that way mate and of course I've started that map so maybe just maybe
14:12	·	there'll be at some point a part two I'm sure if I keep searching then something will come up I've
14:18	·	been Paul I hope you've enjoyed my adventure as much as um I have frankly it's been it's
14:24	·	been a real learning curve as always I'll see you this time next week [Music] hey what keep walking
14:37	·	got