Shield breakings, and the clash of brands, the crash
Of battle axes on shattered helms.
Many a shout of victory must have been heard as the conquering legions forced their way over the ramparts and planted their eagles on the summit of the captured fortress. And once captured they must have been retained, at first perhaps by a fairly large garrison sufficient to prevent re-capture, then as the tide of battle ebbed from the neighbourhood the numbers might have been reduced; but the sites, always in some commanding position, would have been long utilised as points of observation and centres of control over the conquered tribes.
No revolt is recorded as taking place in the west of Britain such as that led by Queen Boadicea in the east, in the year 61; so in looking back to the Roman occupation, it is reasonable to suppose that before the end of the first century it was reduced to the condition of a Roman province. Trade would soon commence with this, the latest, addition to the Empire, and the soldiers, no longer necessary except as garrisons and guardians of the peace, would be employed in improving the means of communication. The warlike Briton (in these parts at any rate) was transformed into a peaceful husbandman, who sowed and reaped, and paid his taxes, grumbling perhaps, but on the whole contented with his lot.
Roads, or trackways, of some kind there certainly were in use by the British, linking tribe to tribe, or camp to camp, and, judging by the line of what we now term Roman roads, it is most probable that to a very great extent the ancient routes were taken as the foundation of the new system developed by the Romans. The details of this system are given by an authority of contemporary date in The Itinerary of Antonine, which is believed to have been compiled in the third century, and possibly corrected and added to later. In this work we find, as regards the County of Dorset, a description of roads which are easily recognised to-day, roads which are still in use throughout a considerable portion of their length. It must not be lost sight of that these roads are in very close connection with some of the principal British hill-fortresses, which fact would stamp them as being originally constructed by the British race, though to all appearance they are grand examples of Roman skill and energy. The main road, the Via Principalis, of the third and fourth centuries, comes to Dorset from Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, one of the grandest of British camps; it passes close to Badbury Camp, and then makes for Maiden Castle, and onwards to Eggardun, all of earlier date than the Roman invasion. But notwithstanding this obvious connection, the roads as we see them now bear witness to the power of Rome, and are, perhaps, some of the most obvious of the memorials of the past. They are described in the XV. Iter. of Antoninus, with the names of the Roman stations and the distances between them along the road from Silchester (Calleva) to Exeter (Isca Dumnoni), which forms a portion of the great Via Iceniana.
After passing Old Sarum, this road crosses the north-east border of the modern county of Dorset at a small hamlet called Woodyates (near Cranborne), taking a south-westerly course; it passes over Woodyates and Handley Down, and is described by Sir R. Colt Hoare as being at that point “the finest specimen of a Roman road I know.” It runs by Badbury Camp, and thence to Dorchester, where the direction changes to due west, parallel with the coast line, and after leaving the county near Lyme Regis proceeds towards Exeter.
It must not be supposed that this, or any other Roman road, can be traced exactly throughout its whole course. Far from it: the hand of the destroyer has been heavy indeed on these relics of the past, built with a prodigal expenditure of time and material. It is often the case that the modern “turnpike,” or county, road has been made on the very site of the ancient road, the old embankment being levelled to gain additional width. In other places cultivation and the demands of agriculture may have proved the cause of its obliteration. Here and there, especially on waste land and heather-clad downs the true Roman work may still be seen, though covered, perhaps, by grass; but with the aid of the Antonine Itinerary much may be learnt and many a portion be recognised. He names, however, only two stations within the county, and the mileage is short by nearly twenty miles, so in all probability, through error in copying, one other station has been omitted. The two stations mentioned are Vindogladia and Durnovaria. Authorities differ greatly as to the true position of the former of these places; the other station, however, is remarkable for the proofs of its former importance. Here we find no less than four roads meeting, from north, south, east, and west, the east and west roads being the Via Iceniana; the others are roads of less importance, that to the south leading to the sea and towards the Roman settlement, Clavinio (or Jordan Hill), near Weymouth, and that to the north passing Stratton and on to Ilchester.
Other branch roads were made as necessity required in different parts of the county. Thus we find traces of a road leaving the Via Principalis, near Badbury, to connect with the harbour of Poole, and another, starting from the same point, running northwards. Mr. Warne is considered to have made a very interesting and clever discovery of a station which is missing in the XV. Iter. of Antoninus. The distance there given between Vindogladia and Durnovaria is quite obviously too short by some fourteen miles. But on Kingston Down, near Bere Regis, the cultured eyes of the learned Dorset antiquarian discovered traces of a Roman settlement, and on due investigation being made, it was considered that there was sufficient proof to establish at this point a station called Ibernium, referred to by other writers as existing in the county.
The position of Vindogladia, though a subject of long and frequent debate, and though stated by some to have been at Badbury, by others at Wimborne Minster, has now been accepted as on Gussage Down, not far from the north-west border of the county where crossed by the Via Iceniana. This is due to the researches of Sir R. C. Hoare, and stands on a par with Mr. Warne’s discovery of the other Roman station on the great military road.