The Fosse

The main lines of communication, in any given country, alter very little from age to age. They are dictated by geography; the vicissitudes of economic and political history may affect their relative importance and alter the details of their lay-out, but nothing except the cessation of traffic can fundamentally change them. This is strikingly exemplified in the relation between the Roman roads of England and its modern railway-system. The main Roman roads are laid out with such accurate attention to geographical facts, that the railway engineers of the nineteenth century were unconsciously forced to imitate their choice of track. In both cases, London is the hub of the system, and main lines radiate to the Channel ports, the Solent, the Exe, the Bristol Channel, the north-west coast, the north-east coast, and East Anglia. In both cases, again, there are certain “cross-country” lines—one from Cheshire to the Usk, one from the Tyne to the Solway, others through the passes of the Pennines. In short, a map of main Roman roads superimposed upon one of main railway-lines shows a very close general agreement, modified by such details as the substitution of Liverpool for Chester as the chief port of the north-west, and the substitution of Reading for Silchester or Shrewsbury for Wroxeter as a nodal point.