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116-511: The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum ( Exeter ) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia ( Lincoln ) to the northeast, via Lindinis ( Ilchester ), Aquae Sulis ( Bath ), Corinium ( Cirencester ), and Ratae Corieltauvorum ( Leicester ). The word Fosse is derived from the Latin fossa , meaning 'ditch'. For

232-416: A transit , a surveyor tried to achieve straightness by looking along the rods and commanding the gromatici to move them as required. Using the gromae they then laid out a grid on the plan of the road. If the surveyor could not see his desired endpoint, a signal fire would often be lit at the endpoint in order to guide the surveyor. The libratores then began their work using ploughs and, sometimes with

348-885: A Roman official to be sent, on service either civil or military, where we do not find roads. They reach the Wall in Britain ; run along the Rhine , the Danube , and the Euphrates ; and cover, as with a network, the interior provinces of the Empire. A road map of the empire reveals that it was generally laced with a dense network of prepared viae . Beyond its borders there were no paved roads; however, it can be supposed that footpaths and dirt roads allowed some transport. There were, for instance, some pre-Roman ancient trackways in Britain, such as

464-640: A Roman road did continue along the River Axe toward Axmouth and Seaton . These sections are labelled Fosse Way on Ordnance Survey maps. The crossroads in Axminster was controlled by a Roman fort at Woodbury Farm , now on the southern edge of the town. The route to the west crosses the Rivers Axe and Yarty to Kilmington , continuing on segments of the A35 and minor local lanes to Honiton. From Honiton

580-550: A bearings factory (part of the NSK group) with some 200 employees, and Laurens Patisseries, part of the food group Bakkavör since May 2006, which bought it for £130 million. It employs over 1,000. In 2007, Currys opened a £30 million national distribution centre next to the A17 near the A46 roundabout, and moved its national distribution centre there in 2005, with over 1,400 staff employed at

696-541: A by-election on 5 June 2014 after the resignation of Patrick Mercer , he was replaced by the Conservative Robert Jenrick , who was re-elected at the general election of 7 May 2015. Newark has three local-government tiers: Newark Town Council, Newark and Sherwood District Council and Nottinghamshire County Council . The 39 district councillors cover waste, planning, environmental health, licensing, car parks, housing, leisure and culture. It opened

812-784: A charter of 664 AD, Newark is mentioned as having been granted to the Abbey of Peterborough by King Wulfhere of Mercia . An Anglo-Saxon pagan cemetery used from the early fifth to early seventh centuries has been found in Millgate, Newark, close to the Fosse Way and the River Trent. There cremated remains were buried in pottery urns. In the reign of Edward the Confessor , Newark belonged to Godiva and her husband Leofric, Earl of Mercia , who granted it to Stow Minster in 1055. After

928-407: A directional straightness. Many long sections are ruler-straight, but it should not be thought that all of them were. Some links in the network were as long as 55 miles (89 km). Gradients of 10%–12% are known in ordinary terrain, 15%–20% in mountainous country. The Roman emphasis on constructing straight roads often resulted in steep slopes relatively impractical for most commercial traffic; over

1044-683: A few miles of Newark, many holding squadrons of the Polish Air Force . A plot was set aside in Newark Cemetery for RAF burials. This is now the war graves plot, where all but ten of the 90 Commonwealth and all of the 397 Polish burials were made. The cemetery also has 49 scattered burials from the First World War . A memorial cross to the Polish airmen buried there was unveiled in 1941 by President Raczkiewicz , ex-President of

1160-927: A field on the town's outskirts, and in 2008 was acquired by Newark and Sherwood District Council. The torc was displayed at the British Museum in London until the opening of the National Civil War Centre and Newark Museum in May 2015. It is now shown in the museum galleries. Newark's churches include the Grade I listed parish church , St Mary Magdalene . Other Anglican parish churches include Christ Church in Boundary Road and St Leonard's in Lincoln Road. The Catholic Holy Trinity Church

1276-531: A former Speaker of the House of Commons, Viscount Ossington . It was designed to be a Temperance alternative to pubs and coaching inns. These changes and industrial growth raised the population from under 7,000 in 1800 to over 15,000 by the end of the century. The Sherwood Avenue Drill Hall opened in 1914 as the First World War began. In the Second World War there were several RAF stations within

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1392-467: A great public service like that of the roads. Gaius Gracchus , when Tribune of the People (123–122 BC), paved or gravelled many of the public roads and provided them with milestones and mounting-blocks for riders. Gaius Scribonius Curio , when Tribune (50 BC), sought popularity by introducing a Lex Viaria , under which he was to be chief inspector or commissioner for five years. Dio Cassius mentions that

1508-529: A layer of fine concrete, the nucleus, went onto the pavement or statumen . Into or onto the nucleus went a course of polygonal or square paving stones, called the summa crusta . The crusta was crowned for drainage. An example is found in an early basalt road by the Temple of Saturn on the Clivus Capitolinus . It had travertine paving, polygonal basalt blocks, concrete bedding (substituted for

1624-739: A leisure centre in Bowbridge Road, opened in 2016. Newark and Sherwood Concert Band , with over 50 regular players, has performed at numerous area events in the last few years. Also based in Newark are the Royal Air Force Music Charitable Trust and Lincolnshire Chamber Orchestra. The Palace Theatre in Appletongate is Newark's main entertainment venue, offering drama, live music, dance and film. The National Civil War Centre and Newark Museum, next to

1740-488: A marketplace lined with many historical buildings and one of its most notable landmarks is St Mary Magdalene church with its towering spire at 232 feet (71 metres) high and the highest structure in the town. The church is the tallest church building in Nottinghamshire and can be seen when entering Newark or bypassing it. The population of the town was recorded at 30,345 at the 2021 census . The place-name Newark

1856-468: A monument. RAF Winthorpe was opened in 1940 and declared inactive in 1959. The site is now the location of the Newark Air Museum . The main industries in Newark in the last hundred years have been clothing, bearings, pumps, agricultural machinery and pine furniture, and the refining of sugar. British Sugar still has one of its sugar-beet processing factories to the north of the town near

1972-557: A national Civil War Centre and Newark Museum in May 2015. The area elects ten councillors to Nottinghamshire County Council. It provides children's services, adult care, and highways and transport services. The town has an elected council of 18 members from seven wards: Beacon (5 councillors), Bridge (3), Castle (2), Devon (5), Magnus (1), Sleaford (1) and South (1). Newark Town Council has taken on some responsibilities devolved by Newark and Sherwood District Council, including parks, open spaces and Newark Market. It also runs events such as

2088-513: A regulation width (see Laws and traditions above), but actual widths have been measured at between 3.6 feet (1.1 metres) and more than 23 feet (7.0 metres). Today, the concrete has worn from the spaces around the stones, giving the impression of a very bumpy road, but the original practice was to produce a surface that was no doubt much closer to being flat. Many roads were built to resist rain, freezing and flooding. They were constructed to need as little repair as possible. Roman construction took

2204-426: A road, though privately constructed, became a public road when the memory of its private constructors had perished. Siculus Flaccus describes viae vicinales as roads " de publicis quae divertunt in agros et saepe ad alteras publicas perveniunt " (which turn off the public roads into fields, and often reach to other public roads). The repairing authorities, in this case, were the magistri pagorum or magistrates of

2320-669: A short section of the A30 at Windwhistle Hill. Then it turns on to the B3167 through the hamlets of Street and Perry Street, joins the A358 , crosses the River Axe at what used to be called Stratford (now called Weycroft ), and on to Axminster . The location of the end of the Fosse Way is uncertain. There are further alignments on the A358 at Ball's Farm and Musbury south of Axminster, which imply

2436-568: A small track (previously part of the A37 from before the by-pass opened and broken by the present-day A372 and A303), before picking up the B3151 through the town. It leaves the B3151 onto Ilchester's High Street, then follows West Street and Roman Road, a minor road that was formerly part of the A303, towards the present-day A303 west of town. The Roman road from Ilchester to Dorchester, Dorset continues on

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2552-643: A £25 million rebuild in 2016 after a long campaign. In 2020 the Suthers School opened, providing a new Secondary School for Newark The town's several primary schools include a new school in the Middlebeck development on the town's southern edge, opened in September 2021. Newark College, part of the Lincoln College, Lincolnshire Group, is situated on Friary Road, Newark, where it

2668-460: Is 21 miles (34 km) from Nottingham , 19 miles (31 km) from Lincoln and 40 miles (64 km) from Leicester . All are connected to the town by the A46 road . The town is also around 20 miles (32 km) from Mansfield , 14 miles (23 km) from Grantham , 19 miles (31 km) from Sleaford , 9 miles (14 km) from Southwell and 11 miles (18 km) from Bingham . Newark lies on

2784-536: Is first attested in the cartulary of Eynsham Abbey in Oxfordshire, where it appears as "Newercha" in about 1054–1057 and "Niweweorche" in about 1075–1092. It appears as "Newerche" in the 1086 Domesday Book . The name "New werk" has the apparent meaning of "New fort". The origins of the town are possibly Roman , from its position on an important Roman road, the Fosse Way . In a document which purports to be

2900-490: Is home to the School of Musical Instrument Crafts. The School, which opened in 1972, has courses to train craftspeople to make and repair guitars, violins, and woodwind instruments, and to tune and restore pianos. British Sugar PLC runs a mill on the outskirts that opened in 1921. It has 130 permanent employees and processes 1.6 million tonnes of sugar beet produced by about 800 UK growers, at an average distance of 28 miles from

3016-721: Is the county boundary between Leicestershire and Warwickshire . The Fosse Way follows the B4455 across Warwickshire, through Street Ashton, Stretton-under-Fosse , Brinklow , Bretford , Stretton-on-Dunsmore , Princethorpe and the site of a Roman town near Chesterton , until it joins the A429 near the boundary with Gloucestershire . The route then follows the A429 through Stretton-on-Fosse, Moreton-in-Marsh , Stow-on-the-Wold , Northleach and Fossebridge, to Cirencester , where it crosses Akeman Street and Ermin Way . South of Cirencester

3132-527: The A46 follows the route of the Fosse Way. The A46 deviates from Fosse Way at East Goscote , to follow the Leicester Western Bypass . The original alignment, which is still visible as an unclassified road called Fosse Way , passes through Syston , continuing as the minor road Melton Road through Thurmaston , before merging with the A607 (the old A46), continuing into the city centre on

3248-684: The A46 road , is Farndon , and to the north Winthorpe . Newark's growth and development have been enhanced by one of few bridges over the River Trent, by the navigability of the river, by the presence of the Great North Road (the A1, etc.), and later by the advance of the railways, bringing a junction between the East Coast Main Line and the Nottingham to Lincoln route. "Newark became a substantial inland port, particularly for

3364-526: The A616 (Great North Road). There have been several factory closures especially since the 1950s. The breweries that closed in the 20th century included James Hole and Warwicks-and-Richardsons. Newark had a population of 30,345 at the 2021 census, a 10% increase from the 27,700 of the 2011 census . The ONS Mid Year Population Estimates for 2007 indicated that the population had risen to some 26,700. Another estimate (2009): "The population of Newark itself

3480-511: The Bishop of Lincoln exchanged ownership of the town with the Crown. Newark was incorporated under an alderman and twelve assistants in 1549, and the charter was confirmed and extended by Elizabeth I . Charles I reincorporated the town under a mayor and aldermen, owing to its increasing commercial prosperity. This charter, except for a temporary surrender under James II , continued to govern

3596-483: The Etruscans . The Viae terrenae were plain roads of leveled earth. These were mere tracks worn down by the feet of humans and animals, and possibly by wheeled carriages. The Viae glareatae were earthen roads with a gravel surface or a gravel subsurface and paving on top. Livy speaks of the censors of his time as being the first to contract for paving the streets of Rome with flint stones, for laying gravel on

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3712-725: The Iron Age hill fort of Bury Camp and becomes another section of the county boundary, crossing second the South Wales railway which is the South Wales Main Line , next the site of an old chapel and spring at Fosse Lodge in Dunley, and then the M4. Thereafter it passes through The Shoe and Nettleton Shrub where remains of a posting-station have been found, and arrives at Batheaston . Thereupon it turns due west to follow

3828-690: The Norman Conquest , Stow Minster retained the revenues of Newark, but it came under the control of the Norman Bishop Remigius de Fécamp , after whose death control passed to the Bishops of Lincoln from 1092 until the reign of Edward VI . There were burgesses in Newark at the time of the Domesday survey. The reign of Edward III shows evidence that it had long been a borough by prescription. The Newark wapentake (hundred) in

3944-699: The River Avon into Bath . Between Bath and Shepton Mallet the line of the Fosse Way follows parts of the A367, through Clandown , Radstock , Westfield and Stratton-on-the-Fosse . It runs across open country and farm tracks parallel to the A37 north of Shepton Mallet, near the Iron Age hill fort of Maesbury . At Beacon Hill south of Oakhill , it crossed the Roman road along the Mendip ridgeway from Old Sarum to

4060-703: The Second Legion after the conquest of the Durotriges in Dorset. The alignment leaves major roads after Petherton Bridge over the River Parrett , and follows country lanes to Over Stratton and Dinnington , where in 2002 members of the Channel 4 television programme Time Team uncovered a mosaic next to the road. The route crosses a stream called Stretford Water, climbs the ridge, and follows

4176-531: The Second Triumvirate obliged the Senators to repair the public roads at their own expense. The second category included private or country roads, originally constructed by private individuals, in whom their soil was vested and who had the power to dedicate them to the public use. Such roads benefited from a right of way in favor either of the public or of the owner of a particular estate. Under

4292-692: The Via Labicana in 421 BC; and the Via Salaria in 361 BC. In the Itinerary of Antoninus , the description of the road system is as follows: With the exception of some outlying portions, such as Britain north of the Wall, Dacia , and certain provinces east of the Euphrates, the whole Empire was penetrated by these itinera (plural of iter ). There is hardly a district to which we might expect

4408-741: The Victorian era . The buildings included the Independent Chapel (1822), Holy Trinity (1836–1837), Christ Church (1837), Castle Railway Station (1846), the Wesleyan Chapel (1846), the Corn Exchange (1848), the Methodist New Connexion Chapel (1848), W. N. Nicholson Trent Ironworks (1840s), Northgate Railway Station (1851), North End Wesleyan Chapel (1868), St Leonard's Anglican Church (1873),

4524-415: The cantons . They could require the neighboring landowners either to furnish laborers for the general repair of the viae vicinales , or to keep in repair, at their own expense, a certain length of road passing through their respective properties. With the conquest of Italy, prepared viae were extended from Rome and its vicinity to outlying municipalities, sometimes overlying earlier roads. Building viae

4640-424: The censor who had ordered their construction or reconstruction. The same person often served afterwards as consul, but the road name is dated to his term as censor. If the road was older than the office of censor or was of unknown origin, it was named for its destination or the region through which it mainly passed. A road was renamed if the censor ordered major work on it, such as paving, repaving, or rerouting. With

4756-411: The civil engineer looked over the site of the proposed road and determined roughly where it should go, the agrimensores went to work surveying the road bed. They used two main devices, the rod and a device called a groma , which helped them obtain right angles. The gromatici , the Roman equivalent of rod men, placed rods and put down a line called the rigor . As they did not possess anything like

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4872-441: The repeal of the Corn Laws and other issues he stood elsewhere after that time. Newark elections were central to two interesting legal cases. In 1945, a challenge to Harold Laski , the Chairman of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party , led Laski to sue the Daily Express , which had reported him as saying Labour might take power by violence if defeated at the polls. Laski vehemently denied saying this, but lost

4988-495: The 1829 elections the Liberal/Radical candidate (Wilde), rather than his candidate, (Michael Sadler, a progressive Conservative). J. S. Baxter, a schoolboy in Newark in 1830–1840, contributed to The Hungry Forties: Life under the Bread Tax (London, 1904), a book about the Corn Laws : "Chartists and rioters came from Nottingham into Newark, parading the streets with penny loaves dripped in blood carried on pikes, crying 'Bread or blood'." Many buildings and much industry appeared in

5104-419: The A46 at Farndon, via Middlebeck to the A1 near Fernwood . The parliamentary borough of Newark returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the Unreformed House of Commons from 1673. It was the last borough to be created before the Reform Act. William Ewart Gladstone , later Prime Minister , became its MP in 1832 and was re-elected in 1835, in 1837, and in 1841 twice, but possibly due to his support of

5220-419: The Baptist Chapel (1876), the Primitive Methodist Chapel (1878), Newark Hospital (1881), Ossington Coffee Palace (1882), Gilstrap Free Library (1883), the Market Hall (1884), the Unitarian Chapel (1884), the Fire Station (1889), the Waterworks (1898), and the School of Science and Art (1900). The Ossington Coffee Palace was built by Lady Charlotte Ossington, daughter of the 4th Duke of Portland and widow of

5336-574: The Fosse Way follows a short section of the A433 , then goes cross country. The Fosse Way crosses the River Thames and under the first South Wales railway Golden Valley Line which was constructed via Gloucester . The road continues and later forming the county boundary between Gloucestershire and Wiltshire , across the old airfield at RAF Kemble , then becomes fragmented sections of country lanes; two sections on this stretch are byways rather than maintained roads, and at points on these routes it widens to as much as 60 feet (20 m). It passes near

5452-418: The LocAle and Weinfest, a museum in the Town Hall, and allotments. A new police station costing £7 million opened in October 2006. The town has three main mixed secondary schools . The older, Magnus Church of England Academy , founded in 1531 by the diplomat Thomas Magnus , lies close to the town centre. The Newark Academy is in neighbouring Balderton (previously The Grove School). It underwent

5568-451: The Palace Theatre in Appletongate in the town centre, opened in 2015 to interpret Newark's part in the English Civil War in the 17th century and explore its wider implications. The district was ranked in a survey reported in 2020 as one of the best places to live in the UK. The Newark Torc, a silver and gold Iron Age torc , was the first found in Nottinghamshire. It resembles that of the Snettisham Hoard . Uncovered in 2005, it occupies

5684-425: The Polish Republic and head of the wartime Polish government in London, supported by Władysław Sikorski , head of the Polish Armed Forces in the West and Prime Minister of the Polish Government in Exile in 1939–1943. When the two died – Sikorski in 1943 and Raczkiewicz in 1947 – they were buried at the foot of the monument. Sikorski's remains were returned to Poland in 1993, but his former grave in Newark remains as

5800-404: The Ridgeway and the Icknield Way . The Laws of the Twelve Tables , dated to about 450 BC, required that any public road (Latin via ) be 8 Roman feet (perhaps about 2.37 m) wide where straight and twice that width where curved. These were probably the minimum widths for a via ; in the later republic, widths of around 12 Roman feet were common for public roads in rural regions, permitting

5916-483: The action. In the 1997 general election , Newark returned Fiona Jones of the Labour Party. Jones and her election agent Des Whicher were convicted of submitting a fraudulent declaration of expenses, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. Newark's former MP Patrick Mercer , Conservative held the position of Shadow Minister for Homeland Security from June 2003 until March 2007, when he had to resign after making racially contentious comments to The Times . At

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6032-403: The bank of the River Trent, with the River Devon running as a tributary through the town. Standing at the intersection of the Great North Road and the Fosse Way , Newark originally grew around Newark Castle , now ruined, and a large market place now lined with historic buildings. Newark forms a single built-up area with the neighbouring parish of Balderton to the south-east. To the south, on

6148-405: The causeway to more than 5 feet (1.5 metres) above the marsh. In the provinces, the Romans often did not bother with a stone causeway but used log roads ( pontes longi ). The public road system of the Romans was thoroughly military in its aims and spirit. It was designed to unite and consolidate the conquests of the Roman people, whether within or without the limits of Italy proper. A legion on

6264-432: The censorial responsibility passed to the commanders of the Roman armies and later to special commissioners, and in some cases perhaps to the local magistrates. In the provinces, the consul or praetor and his legates received authority to deal directly with the contractor. The care of the streets and roads within the Roman territory was committed in the earliest times to the censors. They eventually made contracts for paving

6380-725: The charges for using the roads. Costs of services on the journey went up from there. Financing road building was a Roman government responsibility. Maintenance, however, was generally left to the province. The officials tasked with fund-raising were the curatores viarum . They had a number of methods available to them. Private citizens with an interest in the road could be asked to contribute to its repair. High officials might distribute largesse to be used for roads. Censors, who were in charge of public morals and public works, were expected to fund repairs suâ pecuniâ (with their own money). Beyond those means, taxes were required. A via connected two cities. Viae were generally centrally placed in

6496-423: The city proper) who were both part of the collegia known as the vigintisexviri (literally meaning "Twenty-Six Men"). Augustus, finding the collegia ineffective, especially the boards dealing with road maintenance, reduced the number of magistrates from 26 to 20. Augustus abolished the duoviri and later granted the position as superintendent (according to Dio Cassius) of the road system connecting Rome to

6612-412: The city wall and the first milestone beyond. In case of an emergency in the condition of a particular road, men of influence and liberality were appointed, or voluntarily acted, as curatores or temporary commissioners to superintend the work of repair. The dignity attached to such a curatorship is attested by a passage of Cicero . Among those who performed this duty in connection with particular roads

6728-451: The composer Robert Parsons fell into the swollen River Trent at Newark and drowned. After the break with Rome in the 16th century, the establishment of the Church of England , and the dissolution of the monasteries , Henry VIII had the Vicar of Newark, Henry Lytherland, executed for refusing to acknowledge the king as head of the Church. The dissolution affected Newark's political landscape. Even more radical changes came in 1547, when

6844-437: The condition of the public highways. Their names occur frequently in the inscriptions to restorers of roads and bridges. Thus, Vespasian , Titus , Domitian , Trajan , and Septimius Severus were commemorated in this capacity at Emérita. The Itinerary of Antoninus (which was probably a work of much earlier date and republished in an improved and enlarged form under one of the Antonine emperors ) remains as standing evidence of

6960-427: The construction of sewers and removed obstructions to traffic, as the aediles did in Rome. It was in the character of an imperial curator (though probably armed with extraordinary powers) that Corbulo denounced the magistratus and mancipes of the Italian roads to Tiberius . He pursued them and their families with fines and imprisonment and was later rewarded with a consulship by Caligula , who also shared

7076-610: The corporation until the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 . In the English Civil War, Newark was a Royalist stronghold, Charles I having raised his standard in nearby Nottingham. "Newark was besieged on three occasions and finally surrendered only when ordered to do so by the King after his own surrender." It was attacked in February 1643 by two troops of horsemen, but beat them back. The town fielded at times as many as 600 soldiers, and raided Nottingham, Grantham , Northampton , Gainsborough and other places with mixed success, but enough to cause it to rise to national notice. In 1644 Newark

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7192-421: The countryside. The construction and care of the public roads, whether in Rome, in Italy, or in the provinces, was, at all periods of Roman history, considered to be a function of the greatest weight and importance. This is clearly shown by the fact that the censors, in some respects the most venerable of Roman magistrates, had the earliest paramount authority to construct and repair all roads and streets. Indeed all

7308-410: The creation of a town hall next to the Market Place. Designed by John Carr of York and completed in 1776, Newark Town Hall is now a Grade I listed building, housing a museum and art gallery. In 1775 the Duke of Newcastle , at the time the Lord of the Manor and a major landowner in the area, built a new brick bridge with stone facing to replace a dilapidated one next to the Castle. This is still one of

7424-402: The defences was destroyed, including the Castle, which was left in essentially the state it can be seen today. The Queen's Sconce was left largely untouched; its remains are in Sconce and Devon Park . About 1770 the Great North Road around Newark (now the A616) was raised on a long series of arches to ensure it remained clear of the regular floods. A special Act of Parliament in 1773 allowed

7540-402: The east of Nottinghamshire was established in the period of Anglo-Saxon rule (10th–11th centuries). Newark Castle was originally a fortified manor house founded by the Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Elder. In 1073, Remigius de Fécamp , Bishop of Lincoln, put up an earthwork motte-and-bailey fortress on the site. The river bridge was built about this time under a charter from Henry I , as

7656-484: The factory. Of the output, 250,000 tonnes are processed and supplied to food and drink manufacturers in the UK and across Europe. At the heart of the Newark factory's operations is a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, with boilers fuelled by natural gas to meet the site's steam and electricity requirements and contribute to the grid enough power for 800 homes. The installation is rated under the government CHP environmental quality-assurance scheme. Other major employers are

7772-596: The first few decades after the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, the Fosse Way marked the western frontier of Roman rule in Iron Age Britain . It is possible that the road began as a defensive ditch that was later filled in and converted into a road, or possibly a defensive ditch ran alongside the road for at least some of its length. The road joined Akeman Street and Ermin Way at Cirencester, crossed Watling Street at Venonis ( High Cross ) south of Leicester, and joined Ermine Street at Lincoln. The Antonine Itinerary (a 2nd-century Roman register of roads) includes

7888-415: The first paved road—the Appian Way . Unless these allusions are just simple anachronisms, the roads referred to were probably at the time little more than levelled earthen tracks. Thus, the Via Gabiana (during the time of Porsena ) is mentioned in about 500 BC; the Via Latina (during the time of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus ) in about 490 BC; the Via Nomentana (also known as "Via Ficulensis"), in 449 BC;

8004-411: The gravel), and a rain-water gutter. Romans preferred to engineer solutions to obstacles rather than circumvent them. Outcrops of stone, ravines, or hilly or mountainous terrain called for cuts and tunnels. An example of this is found on the Roman road from Căzănești near the Iron Gates . This road was half carved into the rock, about 5   ft to 5   ft 9   in (1.5 to 1.75   m);

8120-416: The habit of condemning well-born citizens to work on the roads. Under the rule of Claudius, Corbulo was brought to justice and forced to repay the money which had been extorted from his victims. Special curatores for a term seem to have been appointed on occasion, even after the institution of the permanent magistrates bearing that title. The emperors who succeeded Augustus exercised a vigilant control over

8236-483: The heading of viae privatae were also included roads leading from the public or high roads to particular estates or settlements; Ulpian considers these to be public roads. Features off the via were connected to the via by viae rusticae , or secondary roads. Both main or secondary roads might either be paved or left unpaved with a gravel surface, as they were in North Africa. These prepared but unpaved roads were viae glareae or sternendae ("to be strewn"). Beyond

8352-454: The help of legionaries , with spades excavated the road bed down to bedrock or at least to the firmest ground they could find. The excavation was called the fossa , the Latin word for ditch. The depth varied according to terrain. The method varied according to geographic locality, materials available, and terrain, but the plan or ideal at which the engineer aimed was always the same. The road

8468-547: The historic road line. South of Leicester , the B4114 (originally the A46 but renumbered when the M69 was opened) follows the route. This is apart from a short deviation near Narborough , where the original course is no longer visible. A short distance north of the A5 , the B4114 diverges from the line of the Fosse Way to pass through the village of Sharnford . For 2 miles (3.2 km)

8584-500: The lead and silver mines at Charterhouse . The Fosse Way passes through the eastern suburbs of Shepton Mallet on a short stretch of the A361 to Cannard's Grave, where it picks up the A37. The Fosse Way follows the A37 through Street-on-the-Fosse and Lydford-on-Fosse on a direct route to Ilchester . The route leaves the A37 north of the A303 junction just north of Ilchester, and follows

8700-610: The line of A37 through Yeovil to the south east. Other minor Roman roads lead from Ilchester and Lydford-on-Fosse towards Street and the A39 route along the Polden Hills , leading to Roman salt works on the Somerset Levels , and ports at Combwich , Crandon Bridge and Highbridge . After Ilchester the Fosse Way is followed by a section of the A303 under the ramparts of the Iron Age hill fort of Ham Hill , occupied by

8816-608: The march brought its own baggage train ( impedimenta ) and constructed its own camp ( castra ) every evening at the side of the road. Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent ( / ˌ nj uː ər k -/ ) or Newark is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire , England. It is on the River Trent , and was historically a major inland port . The A1 road bypasses

8932-621: The mercenary to leave. Around the time of Edward III 's death in 1377, " Poll tax records show an adult population of 1,178, excluding beggars and clergy, making Newark one of the biggest 25 or so towns in England." In 1457 a flood swept away the bridge over the Trent. Although there was no legal requirement to do so, the Bishop of Lincoln, John Chadworth , funded a new bridge of oak with stone defensive towers at either end. In January 1571 or 1572,

9048-601: The minute care which was bestowed on the service of the public roads. Ancient Rome boasted impressive technological feats, using many advances that were lost during the Middle Ages . Some of these accomplishments would not be rivaled in Europe until the Modern Age . Many practical Roman innovations were adopted from earlier designs. Some of the common, earlier designs incorporated arches . Roman road builders aimed at

9164-491: The office of curator of each of the great public roads a perpetual magistracy rather than a temporary commission. The persons appointed under the new system were of senatorial or equestrian rank, depending on the relative importance of the roads assigned to them. It was the duty of each curator to issue contracts for the maintenance of his road and to see that the contractor who undertook said work performed it faithfully, as to both quantity and quality. Augustus also authorized

9280-593: The old alignment, first as Melton Road then Belgrave Road and Belgrave Gate. The alignment terminates at the Clock Tower , and picks up again at Narborough Road (the A5460), on the other side of the River Soar . A 19 miles (31 km) stretch of the road between Widmerpool & Newark-on-Trent has been upgraded to a dual carriageway which was completed in 2012. The new route deviates in several sections from

9396-436: The passing of two carts of standard (4 foot) width without interference to pedestrian traffic. Actual practices varied from this standard. The Tables command Romans to build public roads and give wayfarers the right to pass over private land where the road is in disrepair. Building roads that would not need frequent repair therefore became an ideological objective, as well as building them as straight as practicable to construct

9512-413: The paving of the streets of Rome or at least shared that responsibility with the quattuorviri viarum . It has been suggested that the quaestors were obliged to buy their right to an official career by personal outlay on the streets. There was certainly no lack of precedents for this enforced liberality, and the change made by Claudius may have been a mere change in the nature of the expenditure imposed on

9628-460: The period 1156–1329, under a series of charters from the Bishop of Lincoln. After his death, Henry III tried to bring order to the country, but the mercenary Robert de Gaugy refused to yield Newark Castle to the Bishop of Lincoln , its rightful owner. This led to the Dauphin of France (later King Louis VIII of France ) laying an eight-day siege on behalf of the king, ended by an agreement to pay

9744-627: The quaestors. The official bodies which first succeeded the censors in the care of the streets and roads were: Both these bodies were probably of ancient origin. The first mention of either body occurs in the Lex Julia Municipalis in 45 BC. The quattuorviri were afterwards called quattuorviri viarum curandarum . The extent of jurisdiction of the duoviri is derived from their full title as duoviri viis extra propiusve urbem Romam passus mille purgandis . Their authority extended over all roads between their respective gates of issue in

9860-408: The rest of Italy and provinces beyond. In this capacity he had effectively given himself and any following emperors a paramount authority which had originally belonged to the city censors. The quattuorviri board was kept as it was until at least the reign of Hadrian (117 to 138 AD). Furthermore, he appointed praetorians to the offices of "road-maker" and assigning each one with two lictors , making

9976-624: The rest of the road, above the Danube , was made from wooden structure, projecting out of the cliff. The road functioned as a towpath, making the Danube navigable. Tabula Traiana memorial plaque in Serbia is all that remains of the now-submerged road. Roman bridges were some of the first large and lasting bridges created. River crossings were achieved by bridges, or pontes . Single slabs went over rills. A bridge could be of wood, stone, or both. Wooden bridges were constructed on pilings sunk into

10092-460: The river, or on stone piers. Stone arch bridges were used on larger or more permanent crossings. Most bridges also used concrete, which the Romans were the first to use for bridges. Roman bridges were so well constructed that many remain in use today. Causeways were built over marshy ground. The road was first marked out with pilings. Between them were sunk large quantities of stone so as to raise

10208-464: The roads outside the city, and for forming raised footpaths at the sides. In these roads, the surface was hardened with gravel, and although pavements were introduced shortly afterwards, the blocks were laid on a bed of small stones. Examples include the Via Praenestina and Via Latina . The best sources of information as regards the construction of a regulation via munita are: After

10324-874: The route have the suffix -cester or -chester , which is derived from Old English ceaster / cæster (ultimately from Latin castra meaning 'military camp'). Some settlements are named after the road itself, such as Fosse- , or -on-Fosse , while others have a more generic form, such as Street , Strete , -le-Street , Stratton , Stretton , Stratford , and Stretford , derived from Old English strǣt / strēt (ultimately from Latin strata , meaning 'paved road'). The route runs from 50°44′N 3°29′W  /  50.73°N 3.48°W  / 50.73; -3.48 in Exeter to 53°14′N 0°32′W  /  53.23°N 0.54°W  / 53.23; -0.54 in Lincoln. Between Lincoln and Leicester

10440-717: The route leads south-west along the old A30, to Strete Ralegh, where there is a short break, then a clear alignment along the former A30, now a minor road, towards Exeter. Roman road At the peak of Rome's development, no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the capital, and the empire's 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads. The whole comprised more than 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles ) of roads, of which over 80,500 kilometres (50,000 mi) were stone-paved. In Gaul alone, no less than 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi) of roadways are said to have been improved, and in Britain at least 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi). The courses (and sometimes

10556-453: The route of the Fosse Way is followed by a minor road, named Roman Road which, although single track, runs along a much wider and slightly domed strip of land with deep ditches either side (the agger ). The modern road ends at a picnic site car park, and a further 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwards can be explored on foot. The junction of Fosse Way with Watling Street , now the A5 , is at High Cross (Roman name Venonis ). Watling Street

10672-462: The secondary roads were the viae terrenae , "dirt roads". The third category comprised roads at or in villages, districts , or crossroads , leading through or towards a vicus or village. Such roads ran either into a high road or into other viae vicinales , without any direct communication with a high road. They were considered public or private, according to the fact of their original construction out of public or private funds or materials. Such

10788-671: The section between High Cross and Lincoln, and lists intermediate points at Verometo ( Willoughby on the Wolds ), Margiduno (Castle Hill near Bingham ), Ad Pontem ( East Stoke ) and Crocolana ( Brough ). From Lincoln to Ilchester in Somerset , a distance of 182 miles (293 km), the route is never more than 6 miles (10 km) from a straight line. Many sections of the Fosse Way form parts of modern roads and lanes, and parish , district or county boundaries, but some parts are now only accessible on foot. Several place names on

10904-445: The shortest possible roads, and thus save on material. Roman law defined the right to use a road as a servitus , or liability. The ius eundi ("right of going") established a claim to use an iter , or footpath, across private land; the ius agendi ("right of driving"), an actus , or carriage track. A via combined both types of servitutes , provided it was of the proper width, which was determined by an arbiter . The default width

11020-719: The site at peak times. Flowserve, formerly Ingersoll Dresser Pumps , has a manufacturing facility in the town. Project Telecom in Brunel Drive was bought by Vodafone in 2003 for a reported £163 million. Since 1985, Newark has been host to the biggest antiques outlet in Europe, the Newark International Antiques and Collectors Fair, held bi-monthly at Newark Showground. Newark has plentiful antique shops and centres. Newark hosts Newark Rugby Union Football Club, whose players have included Dusty Hare , John Wells , Greig Tonks and Tom Ryder . The town has

11136-430: The street inside Rome, including the Clivus Capitolinus , with lava, and for laying down the roads outside the city with gravel. Sidewalks were also provided. The aediles , probably by virtue of their responsibility for the freedom of traffic and policing the streets, co-operated with the censors and the bodies that succeeded them. It would seem that in the reign of Claudius the quaestors had become responsible for

11252-483: The surfaces) of many Roman roads survived for millennia; some are overlaid by modern roads. "The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things: the aqueducts, the paved roads, and the construction of the drains." Dionysius of Halicarnassus , Ant. Rom. 3.67.5 Livy mentions some of the most familiar roads near Rome, and the milestones on them, at times long before

11368-617: The term viae regales compare the roads of the Persian kings (who probably organized the first system of public roads) and the King's Highway . With the term viae militariae compare the Icknield Way ( Icen-hilde-weg , or "War-way of the Iceni"). There were many other people, besides special officials, who from time to time and for a variety of reasons sought to connect their names with

11484-535: The terms via munita and vía publica became identical. Viae were distinguished according to their public or private character, as well as according to the materials employed and the methods followed in their construction. Ulpian divided them up in the following fashion: According to Isidore of Sevilla , the Romans borrowed the knowledge of construction of viae munitae from the Carthaginians , though certainly inheriting some construction techniques from

11600-485: The town on the line of the ancient Great North Road . The town's origins are likely to be Roman , as it lies on a major Roman road, the Fosse Way . It grew up around Newark Castle , St Mary Magdalene church and later developed as a centre for the wool and cloth trades. In the English Civil War , it was besieged by Parliamentary forces and relieved by Royalist forces under Prince Rupert . Newark has

11716-520: The town's defences had been much strengthened. Two major forts had been built just outside the town, one called the Queen's Sconce to the south-west, and another, the King's Sconce, to the north-east, both close to the river, with defensive walls and a water-filled ditch of 2¼ miles around the town. The King's May 1646 order to surrender was only accepted under protest by the town's garrison. After that, much of

11832-474: The town's major thoroughfares today. A noted 18th-century advocate of reform in Newark was the printer and newspaper owner Daniel Holt (1766–1799). He was imprisoned for printing a leaflet advocating parliamentary reform and for selling a pamphlet by Thomas Paine . In a milieu of parliamentary reform, the Duke of Newcastle evicted over a hundred Newark tenants whom he believed to support directly or indirectly at

11948-413: The urban administration, both abolished and created new offices in connection with the maintenance of public works, streets, and aqueducts in and around Rome. The task of maintaining the roads had previously been administered by two groups of minor magistrates, the quattuorviri (a board of four magistrates to oversee the roads inside the city) and the duoviri (a board of two to oversee the roads outside

12064-474: The various functionaries, including emperors, who succeeded the censors in this portion of their duties, may be said to have exercised a devolved censorial jurisdiction. The devolution to the censorial jurisdictions became a practical necessity, resulting from the growth of the Roman dominions and the diverse labors which detained the censors in the capital city. Certain ad hoc official bodies successively acted as constructing and repairing authorities. In Italy,

12180-609: The water would flow out from between the stones and fragments of rubble instead of becoming mud in clay soils. According to Ulpian , there were three types of roads: The first type of road included public high or main roads, constructed and maintained at the public expense, and with their soil vested in the state. Such roads led either to the sea, to a town, to a public river (one with a constant flow), or to another public road. Siculus Flaccus , who lived under Trajan (98–117), calls them viae publicae regalesque , and describes their characteristics as follows: Roman roads were named after

12296-520: The wool trade," though it industrialised somewhat in the Victorian era and later had an ironworks, engineering, brewing and a sugar refinery. The A1 bypass was opened in 1964 by the then Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples . The single-carriageway, £34 million A46 opened in October 1990. Following years of planning, preparatory work was started in 2023 to create an extension and bypass-link from

12412-403: The years the Romans realized this and built longer but more manageable alternatives to existing roads. Roman roads generally went straight up and down hills, rather than in a serpentine pattern of switchbacks. As to the standard Imperial terminology that was used, the words were localized for different elements used in construction and varied from region to region. Also, in the course of time,

12528-485: Was Julius Caesar , who became curator (67 BC) of the Via Appia and spent his own money liberally upon it. Certain persons appear also to have acted alone and taken responsibility for certain roads. In the country districts, the magistri pagorum had authority to maintain the viae vicinales . In Rome each householder was legally responsible for the repairs to that portion of the street which passed his own house; it

12644-433: Was 27,700 and the district of Newark and Sherwood has a population of 75,000 at the 2011 Census. The Office for National Statistics also identifies a wider "Newark-on-Trent built up area" with a 2011 census population of 43,363 and a "Newark-on-Trent built up area subdivision" with a population of 37,084. In the 2011 census, 77 per cent of adults in the town are employed, according to the latest ONS data. By road, Newark

12760-476: Was St Leonard's Hospital. The bishopric also gained from the king a charter to hold a five-day fair at the castle each year, and under King Stephen to establish a mint. King John died of dysentery in Newark Castle in 1216. The town became a local centre for the wool and cloth trade – by the time of Henry II a major market was held there. Wednesday and Saturday markets in the town were founded in

12876-467: Was a military responsibility and thus came under the jurisdiction of a consul. The process had a military name, viam munire , as though the via were a fortification. Municipalities, however, were responsible for their own roads, which the Romans called viae vicinales . Roads were not free to use; tolls abounded, especially at bridges. Often they were collected at the city gate. Freight costs were made heavier still by import and export taxes. These were only

12992-666: Was besieged by forces from Nottingham, Lincoln and Derby , until relieved in March by Prince Rupert . Parliament commenced a new siege towards the end of January 1645 after more raiding, but this was relieved about a month later by Sir Marmaduke Langdale . Newark cavalry fought with the king's forces, which were decisively defeated in the Battle of Naseby , near Leicester in June 1645. The final siege began in November 1645, by which time

13108-448: Was constructed by filling the fossa . This was done by layering rock over other stones. Into the fossa was placed large amounts of rubble , gravel and stone, whatever fill was available. Sometimes a layer of sand was put down, if it was locally avbailable. When the layers came to within 1 yd (1 m) or so of the surface, the subsurface was covered with gravel and tamped down, a process called pavire , or pavimentare . The flat surface

13224-504: Was the latitudo legitima of 8 feet. Roman law and tradition forbade the use of vehicles in urban areas, except in certain cases. Married women and government officials on business could ride. The Lex Julia Municipalis restricted commercial carts to night-time access in the city within the walls and within a mile outside the walls. Roman roads varied from simple corduroy roads to paved roads using deep roadbeds of tamped rubble as an underlying layer to ensure that they kept dry, as

13340-422: Was the duty of the aediles to enforce this responsibility. The portion of any street which passed a temple or public building was repaired by the aediles at the public expense. When a street passed between a public building or temple and a private house, the public treasury and the private owner shared the expense equally. The governing structure was changed by Augustus , who in the course of his reconstitution of

13456-400: Was then the pavimentum . It could be used as the road, or additional layers could be constructed. A statumen or "foundation" of flat stones set in cement might support the additional layers. The final steps utilized lime-based mortar , which the Romans had discovered. They seem to have mixed the mortar and the stones in the ditch. First a small layer of coarse concrete , the rudus , then

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