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Summary

Recent archaeological work in Axminster coupled with evidence from LiDAR and satellite imagery has confirmed that the traditional course of the road from Axminster towards Honiton is largely correct. From the fort at Woodbury the road crosses the river valleys to broadly coincide with the A35 up Gammon Hill. It then deviates to take the lane through Kilmington to the top of Shute Hill. From there it follows the Shute/Stockland parish boundary, rejoining the A35 at Wilmington Bridge. The final section of the road from Grey Stone down into Honiton, however, is unclear and several possible routes have been proposed. See associated records for details of individual sections of the road.

Location

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument 1011921: Roman fort and later Romano-British settlement at Woodbury Farm
• SHINE: Cropmarks of Exeter to Dorchester Roman road agger (ditch) and below-ground archaeological remains and earthworks of World War II anti-tank ditch on Taunton Stop Line (TSL), west of Axminster

Other References/Statuses

• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• ROAD (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

Randall, Clare, 03/11/2015, Land North of Woddbury Lane, Axminster (Report - Evaluation). SDV359392.

Davies, R., 08/2015, Land North of Woodbury Lane, Axminster (Report - Geophysical Survey). SDV359278.

Ordnance Survey, 1963, Untitled Source (Cartographic). SDV320771.

From Shute Hill the Roman road followed the line of the Dalwood and Shute Parish boundaries to the Kilmington Parish boundary at SY25409877.

Margary, I. D., 1967, Roman Roads in Britain, 115 (Monograph). SDV24025.

The A373, the main road through Wilmington to Honiton follows the course of the Roman road from Charmouth to Honiton (runs from SY220-999- to SY20500000 to ST200000020)

Dean, R., 20/05/2010, Land at Kilmington, Devon. Results of an Archaeological Earth Resistance Survey (Report - Geophysical Survey). SDV349890.

Exeter Archaeology, 2003-2004, East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Archaeological Survey, No. 755, 2929 (Archive - Survey). SDV351568.

Tabor, R., 2012, Axe Valley Cyclepath/Walkway: Axminster to Kilmington Archaeological Monitoring and Recording (Report - Watching Brief). SDV352351.

Pears, B. + Hughes, S., 2013, Land North of Woodlands, Kilmington, Devon: Results of an Archaeological Trench Evaluation (Report - Evaluation). SDV355706.

An archaeological trench evaluation at Woodlands on Kilmington Hill in 2013 revealed a well-metalled section of road which corresponds with the line of the Roman road.

Toller, H., 2014, The Roman Road from Dorchester to Exeter (Article in Serial). SDV358042.

The first and last sections of the course of the Roman road from Dorchester to Exeter, from Dorchester to Eggardon Hill, and Honiton to Exeter, have been known since the 18th century but the course of the 38km section in the middle was unclear, although the general concensus was that it was that followed by the modern A35. More recent archaeological work in Axminster coupled with evidence from LiDAR and satellite imagery has now provided new evidence for a length of the road between Eggardon Hill in Dorset and Axminster and also confirmed that the traditional course of the road between Axminster and Honiton is largely correct.
The road enters Devon at Monkton Wyle Cross (SY329970) and descends as Cook's Lane and Woodbury Lane to Axminster. Westwards from Woodbury the road continued in a direct line across the valley of the Axe and Yarty towards Shute Hill; a 240 metre length of road was excavated in 1990 across the flood plain of the Yarty. The road at this point was found to be up to 20.25 metres wide and probably originally stood up to 0.6 metres above the surrounding ground.
West of the Axe there is no certain evidence for the road towards Honiton but antiquarian observations suggest that the road followed the line taken by the 1758 turnpike road from Shute Hill through to Taunton Cross, Burrow Corner and then to Moorcox Cross. Beyond Moorcox the course of the road is probably overlain by the modern A35 on the course of the earlier turnpike to Honiton.
See article for full details.

Historic England, 2015-2016, NRHE to HER prototype (Website). SDV359652.

Steinmetzer, MFR. and Salvatore, J., 2016, Archaeological evaluation on land behind the Old Inn, Kilmington, Devon (Report - Evaluation). SDV359614.

de-Villiers, S., 2016, Land at Woodbury Cottage, Woodbury Lane, Axminster, (Report - Watching Brief). SDV359401.

Ordnance Survey, 2016, MasterMap (Cartographic). SDV359352.

Map object partly based on this source. The lane up Kilmington Hill is marked as a Roman Road.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV5145 - Evaluation at the Junction of Gammons Hill and George Lane, Kilmington
• EDV5946 - Land at Kilmington, Devon. Results of and Archaeological Earth Resistance Survey (Ref: 100512)
• EDV6259 - Archaeological Monitoring and Recording of the Axe Valley Cyclepath/Walkway (Ref: COAS/WBF/11/AVC)
• EDV6359 - Archaeological Trench Evaluation on Land North of Woodlands, Kilmington (Ref: ACD822)
• EDV6866 - Geophysical Survey, Land North of Woodbury Lane, Axminster (Ref: J8756)
• EDV6912 - Evaluation, Land North of Woodbury Lane, Axminster (Ref: C1/EVA/15/WAD)
• EDV6918 - Watching Brief, Land at Woodbury Cottage, Woodbury Lane, Axminster (Ref: ACD1162/2/0)
• EDV6972 - Archaeological evaluation on land behind the Old Inn, Kilmington, Devon. (Ref: OA1326)

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