Emmaus Partnership
Following in the footsteps of the the school’s Archaeological Society from 1963, Downside School Upper Sixth form pupil Julia has led a research project looking into the ancient Roman road (Fosse Way), which is supposed to have crossed the School grounds.
The road was first built in the first and second centuries AD and linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) with Lindum Colonia (Lincoln), serving mainly military purposes, and it also marked the Western frontier of Roman rule in Iron Age Britain.
The project involved a two day geophysical survey with the aim of surveying an area of potential Roman road as well as allowing pupils to undertake a geophysical survey, report writing as well as archaeological interpretation.
“We are very grateful to the Bath and Counties Geological Society (BACAS), with technical support from John Oswin, Janet Pryke, Shaun Wilson and Fiona Medland, for their support,” said Downside on its website.
“After the two days, the team had complete data from both the magnetometry and resistivity survey, which still need further analysis and comparison, but from the initial results, they can see two parallel lines which definitely suggest a form of linear feature and might indicate the ditches of the ancient Roman road (probably Fosse Way). The archaeologists are open to further collaboration and even proposed to make the ground profile to confirm our assumptions.”
The next step is starting an official report summarising the team’s findings, which will be published on the Bath and Counties Archaeological Society website, Somerset Historic Environment Record, and many more.
