Level 3 - Life in Roman Sussex - Transport & Communication

Transport & Communication

Land Transport

The roadway networks are among the more visible remains of Roman Britain. The road system in Sussex is particularly well known in places, with many roads revealed on aerial photographs. The most famous road is Stane Street, linking Chichester to London, which illustrates in its three main alignments the accuracy and brilliance of Roman surveying.

The construction of a Roman road such as Stane Street began with the digging of two parallel outer ditches, with two inner ditches defining the limits of the road proper. An embankment called an agger was built up between the inner ditches, with top layers of gravel or flints (metalling) laid down to improve drainage. The crossing of rivers was either at fording places, or - when unavoidable - at bridges such as the well-documented crossing of the river Arun at Alfoldean. Throughout the empire milestones were erected along roadways, usually recording the distances to the nearest settlement, and one such example may have been found in Worthing.

Nearly all of the Roman roads were built within a century of the conquest, often by the military, and most would have been in use throughout the Roman period and beyond. Small settlements and villas such as Bignor may have been linked to the main roads by means of smaller track ways, but these are much more difficult to detect.

Section of a Roman road

The actual means of transportation was provided by horses, animal-pulled vehicles and most commonly by foot. It is likely that horses did not usually travel on the metalled road surfaces, except when they were pulling wheeled transport, when hipposandals may have been worn to protect their feet. These objects have been found in small numbers throughout parts of Sussex, along with other horse and cart fittings.

Water Transport

Passage by water was a far more efficient and cost-effective way of transportation, especially in the movement of large quantities of goods. Unfortunately, we have limited evidence in Sussex of either port facilities or water-borne transport itself. Fishbourne Creek was almost certainly used as an important port during the invasion period, and it is likely that it continued in this role throughout the 1st to 4th centuries AD.

Further east, there was a probable river port at Bodiam, from which iron products were undoubtedly exported, and it is this region of the Weald that seems to have been connected with the Roman naval fleet, or Classis Britannica (see The Military). There have been no remains of Roman ships found on or near the Sussex coast, although a small number of well-preserved wooden log-boats were found in the Hardham region, probably used to ferry people across the river.

Personal Communication

Graffito scratched onto a column drum at Fishbourne

Latin was the official language of the Romano-British state. How far the majority of the population used it is uncertain, but it is highly likely that all those involved in any administrative duty would have had at least a working knowledge of it. All known inscriptions from Sussex are in a Latin script, although there was much divergence between the very formal masonry inscriptions found at Chichester and the many examples of informal scratched graffitos such as that upon the Fishbourne column drum.

There are no examples of written correspondence between individuals in Sussex, but evidence elsewhere suggests that it was done mainly on wax tablets, inscribed with a stylus. Many examples of styli have been found in Sussex, along with the seal box lids, which were used to ensure privacy.

Official correspondence was carried by the imperial postal service (cursus publicus), which would have utilised the many the posting stations (mansiones) situated along the main roads, at approximately 25 km intervals. Examples of these in Sussex include Alfoldean and Hardham.