Bicycle Tag of bike

Old: Fred Wigg Towers in Leytonstone

New: More East London social housing

I know I read an article about that block recently but can't trace it. Clue?

There's a big fat clue in the picture.

It's the work of Denys

There's a big fat clue in the picture.

I refuse to use the obvious clues.

Parking permit code A4?

We don’t all maintain a spreadsheet where we can look up cpz codes across London Oliver.

The soon to be demolished Fred Wigg and John Walsh towers, as featured in the trailer of Rellik. I often walk past them trying to get that child to sleep.

Speaking of relics, anyone a fan of Roman roads? I have a theory about this little stretch of ground in front of the towers which doesn't have much official support but I'd love to be proven right.

It is my contention that across this patch of grass, more or less where my bike was positioned, lies the remains of a Roman road that links London to Great Dunmow. It is quite easy to trace it on maps north east of Bovinger and Theydon Garnon,

and then down through Chigwell, past Wanstead RFC after which it crosses the river Roding.

After that, it is less clear. Redbridge council has estimated it goes from there to the Green Man Roundabout, which would suggest a sharpish deviation from an otherwise pretty consistent course. My theory is that it maintains that same direction after the Roding which would mean it goes straight across this open stretch of grass.

Prove it I hear you wail. Well, there's not much, but dry summers (like 2010 or 2013) and the Google Earth timeline feature are on my side I think: It's these parallel lines across the flats that line up exactly with the course of the road further out. I'd love this to be right, but have don't know how I would prove it beyond armchair archeology.

The only mention of this particular course I have found online is an old victorian photograph taken looking down that avenue of trees just to the north of it (originally part of Wanstead Park's elaborate garden landscaping):

"The agger of the Roman road to Great Dunmow is clearly visible in the foreground, crossing the Avenue at an angle."

Anyone know any roman experts?

Would make a great forum ride one day, no?

Cycle PS have a BTOB-esque competition to win a lairy Brother Kepler on Saturday - I’m not around but I’m sure some of you could use your skills to good effect.. https://m.facebook.com/story/graphql_permalink/?graphql_id=UzpfSTI3NTY3MTcxMjU3NzUyMzoxMjA3NzUxMTEyNzAyOTA3

Why a Roman road and not a medieval track? Both are visible in topography but only one is easy to determine by archaeology.

I'm not an expert on Roman roads, but certainly very interested in them and likewise look at maps to try to trace them. A couple of things to bear in mind, though:

(1) I believe that Roman investment in their roads corresponded to their military and economic importance, and in general the most ridiculously straight roads also cost the greatest investment to build (there will be exceptions where topography was uncommonly suited to road-building, although there it was also often the case that important trade routes were established early). More minor Roman roads change course more often. Needless to say, even in Roman times there was an extensive network of curvy small lanes that branched off the main roads. While your dashed red line may therefore indicate an approximate alignment, it's more likely that the actual route can be discovered to the left and right of that alignment in places, so it's best to be flexible in tracing it. For instance, look at the kink just south-west of Great Dunmow where the road may well have skirted around the valley there even in Roman times.

(2) I believe this road would have been fairly minor and not of very great importance in later times. For instance, in Roman times Great Dunmowum lay at the junction of the Stane Street with two other roads:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stane_Street_(Colchester)

However, I've tried several times to find whether there is any indication of what the Roman name was for Great Dunmow, and all I've found is speculation, so I don't think it was a place of great importance. While the Stane Street was important enough to be included in the Antonine Itinerary, the others were clearly not. Had they been more significant, I think it would have become a much bigger town, like most towns at important junctions, and there's no doubt that we'd know the name the place had in those times.

Later, it seems the west to east or south-east alignment was more important, as seen on this old map:

http://www.historyhouse.co.uk/placeG/essexg16a.html

I believe that Great Dunmow also only lay on an east-west railway line, so I don't think the connection to London was ever very strong even when the old road was there.

(3) How a road was treated in its post-Roman life can give a useful indication of how important it was in Roman times. If it ceased to be maintained (and hence largely disappeared off the map, as this one evidently did, except for the bit of the B184 close to Great Dunmow), that can be an indication that its original importance was military and not economic. (I believe the post-Roman economy in Britain was more localised for a long time and there was less long-distance trade, too, which contributed to the decline in some roads, not to mention the weaker, more regional authorities.) Then, as now, the area seems to have been mainly rural, so there doesn't seem to be a lot of historical information. If anything, it may have been a military road that eventually reached Venta Icenorum, but it doesn't seem that there was much trouble with the Iceni after their famous rebellions, and the region was probably not very densely populated, reducing the potential importance of any road. At any rate, the region would have been more focused on Camulodunum.

(4) Needless to say, finding actual evidence would involve a lot of digging on private land mostly adapted for agricultural or other use since. Road archaeology is notoriously difficult as roads tend to be long for some reason and you never know where along a road to look. Also, as people travel along roads they don't leave as many traces there as at the waypoints, so that it's much easier to look where people actually stayed. /captainobvious

All of this isn't well-informed, by the way, so may well be wrong.

* * *

I suspect doing a ride along this road would mean a lot of clambering through fields. I've long wanted to do a ride along the Ermine Street, though.

Old: Block in Globe Town (edit: Sulkin House)

New:

might do that in a bit

this street art is becoming a " growing concerns " in the very local area

old
rainbow street art on wick lane, just down from growing concerns a lovely little garden centre right on the canal

New

Photo hosting fail

.

1 Attachment

That is ace!

it's a great sculpture

nice one you two

Wow, nice tag.

Yeah, very nice!

Old: Mirror "labyrinth" in Chiswick Business Park

1 Attachment

New:

1 Attachment