It is surprising to learn on the authority of Mr. George Cadbury, Jun. that an adequate history of the Roman occupation of this country has yet to be written. Mr. Cadbury has been making a study of the Roman roads of South Birmingham, and his conclusions have been placed before the Birmingham Archæological Society.
He regrets that the material available is so scanty and points out that much contemporary literature has been lost. In considering Roman Britain, he says, it almost seems that sufficient emphasis has not yet been laid on the study of pre-Roman or Brythonic Britain.
In order to understand theIllegible: guessed developments of the English road system it is necessary to go back to the original British trackways and saltways.
The earliest routes were trackways along which the salt was probably carried on pack animals, although they may have been later converted into properly surfaced roads for military purposes along which chariots could go.
The distribution of salt meant the development of roads and tracks radiating from Droitwich. These saltways must have been fairly numerous, and they can still be fairly well traced, although there still remains a great deal of research work to be done. One goes northwards into Staffordshire and branches into Derbyshire. Another goes eastwards into South Warwickshire and Gloucestershire, and yet one other goes south-west to the Severn at Rhydd probably continuing into South Wales.
“Perhaps the most characteristic British way still extant,” says Mr. Cadbury, “is the Southern Icknield Street, which winds along the chalk downs from Norfolk to Wiltshire.”
“The term ‘Saltway,’ ” he says, is still used in many parts, and the words ‘Selly,’ ‘Selly Oak,’ and ‘Saltley’ probably preserve some reference to Saltways.
The term “Upper Saltway” is generally used to designate the road from Worcester through Droitwich to Bromsgrove, over the Lickeys to King’s Norton, Edgbaston, and Birmingham. There is evidence that locally the Icknield Street was believed to have joined originally the Upper Saltway at Shepley, and most probably along what is now known as Twatling Road, the actual junction being near Twatling Farm.
The continuation westwards of Twatling road is locally called the Alvechurch Highway, which tradition says is the oldest road in the district.
The results of Mr. Cadbury’s study of Roman roads in the Midlands are extremely interesting, and he suggests “that the society would do good service to antiquarian research if it collected the matter for, and arranged and published, an archæological map containing all up-to-date information, together with any necessary reports.”
Source info: MS note (not by AW) “Daily News May 4th”.