This is a surviving section of the Roman road running across the heathland north of Bagwood Coppice, near Bere Regis in Dorset. It forms part of the route linking Dorchester (Durnovaria) eastwards via Badbury Rings towards Old Sarum (Sorviodunum) — the so-called "Ackling Dyke" system in its wider sense, though this stretch is the western continuation across the Frome–Piddle interfluve. The road was likely laid out in the later 1st century AD following the Roman advance into Durotrigian territory and remained in use through the Roman period.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The road was a major arterial route connecting the civitas capital of the Durotriges at Dorchester with the important road junction at Badbury Rings, and onward to Hampshire and Wiltshire. It would have carried official traffic, agricultural produce from the surrounding villa estates and farmsteads, and goods linked to the Purbeck shale and Kimmeridge industries to the south.
On this stretch the road survives as a low agger visible on the heathland and in aerial photography, but it has not been the subject of major published excavation; most of what is known derives from field survey, OS mapping, and the wider RCHME work on Dorset. No significant associated structures or finds are specifically recorded for the Bagwood Coppice section.
This is a surviving section of the Roman road running across the heathland north of Bagwood Coppice, near Bere Regis in Dorset. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a site site from the Roman period in Britain.
Section of Roman road north of Bagwood Coppice is classified as a Roman site — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Roman road W of Ashley Barn (4.7 km), Dewlish (7.7 km), Roman fort at Crab Farm (10.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around Section of Roman road north of Bagwood Coppice