Chris Smart is a landscape archaeologist who specialises in the heritage of Roman and medieval Britain. He currently manages the National Lottery Heritage Fund project ‘Understanding Landscapes’ which is engaging the public in research on Roman and medieval landscapes in Devon and Cornwall, UK.
Laser beams were used to detect and create a map of the regionThe research found North Tawton was centre of the road network instead of Exeter. A Roman road network that spanned across Devon and Cornwall and connected significant settlements has been discovered.
Archaeologists at the University of Exeter have used laser scans collected as part of the Environment Agency’s National LiDAR Programme to identify sections of the road west of the previously understood boundary.
Using sophisticated geographical modelling techniques the researchers have then been able to map out the full extent of the network.
The work reveals that far from Exeter being the main nerve centre of the network, it was North Tawton that supported vital connections with tidal estuaries north and south of Bodmin and Dartmoor.
The findings were led by Dr Christopher Smart and Dr Joao Fonte, from Exeter’s department of archaeology and history.
Dr Smart said: “Despite more than 70 years of scholarship, published maps of the Roman road network in southern Britain have remained largely unchanged and all are consistent in showing that west of Exeter, Roman Isca, there was little solid evidence for a system of long-distance roads."
He said the new research will "transform our understanding of the Roman road network".
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