How We Misunderstood Roman Britain. The Exeter Story

Thanks for the inspiration for this video goes to: Exeter University and their Team. Especially Dr Chris Smart and Joao Fonte.
Welcome to this weeks video where we take a walk around the ancient walls of Exeter and discuss how the current understanding of Roman Britain in the South West of England, is by and large, misunderstood.
Join this channel to get access to perks: / @pwhitewick OR / paulandrebeccawhitewick
Credits:
Thumbnail Design: Rowan Whitewick
Credits: Music: Storyblocks
Sound Effects: Epidemicsound and Storyblocks
Additional Footage: Storyblocks - artgrid.io
Maps: OS Maps Crown Copyright 2023 - Media License.
Maps: Google Maps.
Maps: National Library of Scotland
Maps: All other Maps credit below where applicable.
Filter: Snowman Digital and Beachfront B-Roll
Other Filters: Storyblocks
Other Credits:
Roman Walls Image: Exeter City Council
Roman Exeter Image: RAMM
Images of work by UofE: University Of Exeter Media handouts
Main Sources:
news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-...
roadsofromanbritain.org/

[@ncammann]

The phrase "Orient the map" means "To point towards the East" i.e the Orient. or Where the sun rises. The Romans would have used the sunrise as their Datum mark. Hence the layout of their map. Laying maps to the North/South only came about much later, after the discovery of lodestones and then compasses, and magnetic North.

[@BillSikes.]

Theres a Roman road marker stone at Tintagel, i came across it by accident, its on the footpath leading up to St Necterns Glen

[@Hairnicks]

As a Devonian I really enjoyed that, thank you Paul.

[@bobn450]

The Romans did pop down to Plymouth, but soon realised what a depressing place it was. They quickly returned to Exeter and formed the mighty Exeter City Football club. The Roman Emperor Septimius Severus was a keen city fan and was indeed a season ticket holder. The rest, as they say is History! Robert d'Exeter

[@tomrainboro3728]

"The rest", as they say, is that they play outside the Roman city and are nicknamed the 'Grecians'! Dave of the Deep Valleys

[@jamiewood4280]

And the rest as they say is history as they languish in league 1, whereas the mighty Argyll enjoy championship football.

[@thra5herxb12s]

I thought it was the Greeks that brought footy to Exeter 😁

[@smallsleepyrascalcat]

The amount of research done for your videos is incredible. I look forward to them in anticipation every Sunday. ^^

[@pwhitewick]

Thank you Kia

[@gertrudehumpadink1405]

I’ve lived in Exeter since 2017 and I must say, it is a wonderful place to live. I quite regularly frequent a coffee shop that sits directly opposite this wall, and ponder its history. Fascinating video Paul. Subscribed.

[@imagseer]

Interesting, we need more on this topic from you. There is a video in the Royal Albert Museum in Queen Street which shows Exeter's journey from South of the Equator 300 million years ago to where it is today; that museum is well worth spending 2 or 3 hours in. A Roman road and location of a fort settlement were unearthed at Okehampton 22 miles West of Exeter recently when they were building a new housing estate and they have left part of the road exposed and fenced off so that people can take a look. I think we should also remember that transport by rivers a sea were the only practical means of moving anything heavy until the Industrial Revolution.

[@richardmorgan9273]

As Paul mentioned, the tin and other minerals from Cornwall would have been a valuable commodity, so you'd expect a more obvious Roman presence. A few thoughts/guesses for why there's little trace: 1. The tin/minerals would probably have been exported by sea, so major roads were unnecessary. 2. Cornish tin had been mined and used to make bronze since the Bronze Age, so presumably the trade routes would have been well established before the Romans, so little need to upgrade - it'll be the same people mining and trading the tin, just the government had changed. 3. The local tribe (the Dumnonii) appear not to have resisted the Romans unlike the Durotriges to the East, so no need for a heavy military presence. Anyway, an interesting and thought-provoking video!

[@douglasfleetney5031]

Wonderful as ever Paul. One minor point: Port Lympne is pronounced as Limm. the Y becomes an I and the PNE are silent. Just another of those weird Kent places like Trottiscliffe pron Troysly, don't ask, please don't ask...

[@pwhitewick]

Ah thanks. I'd never even knew it existed until this video. So had no clue.

[@tolrem]

Reminds me of an old map showing Brighton as Brighthelmstone.

[@norsehall309]

G'day from Australia, l Married a wonderful Girl from Exeter and the first time in that City l walked through an arch in a quiet thick wall next thing my wife said you know that's a Roman wall, l went back and hugged it, no history like that in OZ, cheers mate, keep doing what you do best, Neil 🤠.

[@peterthorpe8104]

Nice to see you down our way highlighting our fantastic historic city of Exeter (Isca). There is a walk around some of the remaining wall and gates, you can get a map from the Exeter Museum. This news from Exeter University using the LIDAR results etc. is great. As you mention in your video, when you have resources, towns and markets build up around them.

[@davidmarsden9800]

It may pay you to check where II Legion Augusta, with Vespasian under Plautius, went in AD43 after crossing the Thames onto the triangular island that now has the Houses of Parliament on, the invasion force split into 3 if I remember correctly and the legion that Vespasian was in went south west down to that area which might help you find where they ended up. As with many sites they were after resources like lead, silver, gold and probably most relevant for you, tin. They knew from trade that the resources were here and where they were. They reached Cornwall but didn't have a large presence beyond Exeter for whatever reason. Puzzling, as tin etc from there would have helped finance the invasion in addition to the glory for Claudius.

[@xPyroxx]

2:25 hahaha, "is quickly working to address these concerns" those have been up since 2019 I think. I'm from Exmouth, and grew up in and around Exeter as a kid and a teenager. My grandad helped with the rebuilding of the wall where you can walk ontop of it back in the 80's.

[@pwhitewick]

Oooops

[@davestevenson9080]

house prices gone down yet? I grew up in Exmouth too, would love to move back...

[@ashmaybe9634]

@@davestevenson9080 Haha you're kidding right?

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Whilst there probably just one major route in to Cornwall it'll probably be somewhere north of the Tamar estuary. Most of the mines were probably linked to the closest port and didn't use this road, just like some of the coal mines in county Durham where linked by rail to the nearest North Sea port.

[@superted6960]

I also think it unlikely the Romans would have had multiple roads beyond the main links. Outside the forts the countryside would have been relatively lawless, with travellers prey to bandits, unless well protected. I know little of Roman Britain but suspect they would have preferred to protect a lesser number of main routes rather than spread themselves too thinly

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@superted6960 there would have been, but probably little more than dirt tracks that had been in use prior to the invasion.

[@rialobran]

I concur, which is why the only known Roman forts in Cornwall are at the high tide range of the rivers in the mining areas. None of them were long lived, Calstock was occupied 30 years maximum and Roman Villas there are but one, and that was a Romano British copy.

[@kernowboy137]

I agree, there is so little evidence of Roman occupation aside from a couple of forts in East Cornwall and a Villa near Camborne that the expense associated with an extensive road network seems unlikely. Indeed, given that most of the Cornish trade in metals was exported by sea a simple track network would surely have been adequate. Cornwall’s history of trade with the mediterranean also suggests that the Roman’s used a light touch on the local inhabitants to ensure this trade continued unmolested.

[@rialobran]

@@kernowboy137 There are too many assumptions being made off the back of LIDAR and small excavations. At Calstock fort they found a road heading out of it going west, a short section. so assume it went into Cornwall. Yet any fool can see even the Romans couldn't have gone east or north without going west first from the fort, the valley is almost as steep as Cheddar gorge. It's pretty well accepted that the old A30 is probably the Roman road, and I'm pretty well sure I've tracked the road from Calstock to Okehampton, but nothing to the west.

[@timelordtardis]

The underground passage tours in Exeter, which incorporate the aquaducts, are very interesting but don't go if you suffer with any form of claustrophobia.

[@66kbm]

They are from the Medieval period. 14/15 century

[@kategleason6908]

Yes my daughter and I visited the underground passage tour 😊

[@alexritchie4586]

Fun Fact: Northernhay Gardens where the opening shot is is the world's first public park, granted by the City Fathers to the city's citizens in 1612 😁

[@ncammann]

There is an excavation of a Roman fort overlooking the Tamar river at Calstock in Cornwall very close to the highest navigable point up the estuary. OS Grid Ref: SX 43665 69203 Very close to the Tin/Copper Mines of Morwelham and the Devon-Great-Consuls, and many others nearby. Although the "Recorded History" of these mines was very much later, it is likely there was small scale mining much earlier in time.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Sounds like an eminently reasonable assumption.

[@christophernoble6810]

A big clue is that for moving heavy objects the roads would have been unsuitable. The rivers were used instead. That would certainly explain the lack of Roman roads west of Exeter.

[@WILLIAM1690WALES]

Living just on the Welsh side of the border. Chester is about 6 miles away and it’s amazing what I’ve seen the similarities with Exeter

[@billwright5228]

There is a Roman Rd( route of) marked on os maps at Newton Abbot, also on this route the remains of a Roman bridge at Teignbridge. The causeway is thought to be Roman too.

[@Simonsvids]

It is highly unlikely there were no Roman roads in Cornwall further west than Exeter. I remember in the 70's it was believed that there were no Roman roads further west than Carmarthen (Roman Moridunum) in South Wales. Excavations in the last 25 years have shown otherwise.

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

As usual, an excellent and highly informative video, for which many thanks. One of my grandsons, a 13-yr old history nut who lives north of Brisbane, loves your channel and uses some of your topics as themes for his boarding school history projects. Over Zoom yesterday, he did remind me that Exeter was not the westernmost fort in the Roman Empire, however. That was Segontium, today's Caernarfon in Wales. It's great to learn from or be reminded by one's grandchildren! 😅

[@zippy5131]

I lived in Holyhead for seven years and found that there was a Roaman Fort in the town, how little is there presence talked about in North Wales (Though somehow not surprising as what they did to the Welsh). As in Chester, Cester, Deva or Caer, the city was supposed to be the administrative centre of roman britian. ie. the oval building they found at the back of the town hall, now burried under a lot of concrete (helpful) the wall thickness suggested a three story building. How little we know of our history and people these days are determined to wipe it out.

[@martinhughes2549]

Caergybi, the Welsh name for Holyhead on Ynys Gybi( Holy Island), means the ( Roman)Fort of Gybi.There are Roman forts at Caerhun,( Conwy valley) Caernarfon. There is a Roman bath House in Prestatyn, Roman forts around North Wales, and even Roman villas. There are Roman mining works as well. Finally the large amount of Latinate words derived from late Brythonic that where carried over to early Welsh. There are the legends if Macsen Wledig, the usurper Emperor Maxentius as well.

[@jgodfrey546]

Surprising Norman's bits lasted so long on the wall...

[@jumpferjoy1st]

Nice video. Even in alleged well known and well researched areas, new roads are being found. Remember a friend of mine was part of a team that found a new road in East Sussex around 2010, using the ground penetration radar.

[@alexandertolano9666]

The kingdom of Dumnonia (Devon and Cornwall) was a Roman client state (like the Iceni) and as long as it served its purpose it was unmolested. The earlier society that had built Stonehenge bequeathed good droving tracks made by herds of Aurochs, so the Romans didn't have any need to upgrade them for several decades. Also, much of the metal ore was exported from Cornwall by sea, a trade route that Julius Caesar had seized during his conquest of Gaul a century before the Roman invasion of Britain. Only ore required domestically needed to travel by road.

[@stephenchappell7512]

Yes indeed the Romans could be a pragmatic bunch

[@catherinegrimes2308]

It is good to hear about Exeter University, I went to there from 1979 to 1982 and loved it there.

[@whereinsussex]

The amount of research you are now doing in to the Roman stuff is amazing. It isn't my subject area but you've really found your groove and in doing so taught me about the Roman transport links and how they connect with likely movements across the country at that time, from a non "university" (ie for the common person) point of view, which is great

[@colcester]

Back on May 5th to May 8th this year, my friend and I drove the entire length of the Fosse Way, sticking as closely to the route as it would allow for a vehicle. We decided to use Exeter as a hotel stop but actually started our journey properly from Seaton which is where OS Maps show the Roman Road originating from. Whilst there is a road from Exeter running through Honiton and onto Dorchester we suspected another route ran via Ottery St Mary and past Blackbury Castle Hillfort down to Seaton and Beer, possibly an early anchorage site for the Roman fleet before they used the Exe Estuary and certainly an important place for cargo what with Beer Stone quarried locally and all the rich Somerset villas like Lopen and Dinnington and the products coming from Ilchester and the Mendips all easily exported out from Seaton rather than back tracking to Exeter. I suspect though that the River Exe and Exeter became more important to trade from Devon and Cornwall after the town was developed following the military use and the river became the main site for cargo for these areas, hence the extensive road network located by Exeter University.

[@sj257257]

It is a shame that Cornwall are building a road over the marching camp discovered in Roche. I suspect there is more to the story than revealed to locals. The field it was found in was called the post field by the farmer as there was a modest standing stone that the cows liked. I wonder if Goss Moor stopped them or slowed them down, being on the edge of the camp.

[@highpath4776]

Google needs to add the Roman Map to its GPS map views !!

[@user-xh3lz9xt4l]

The Fosse Way bypass

[@Sim0nTrains]

I really do like Exeter. Very nice video Paul

[@martinjolly8351]

Great video, really good to learn more about a fascinating, historic and often overlooked city. So much more there - the bridge itself is really interesting.

[@mkendallpk4321]

Your videos were very good before you slowed down. Now they have improved greatly! Excellent work, please try to keep it up. I really do appreciate all the work you put into each video. Just don't burn yourself out.

[@lindamccaughey6669]

Loved that thanks Paul. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care

[@shirleylynch7529]

Very interesting. What a work you put in to your videos. Thank. You. Most enjoyable.

[@davidhcobbald3632]

Fantastic video as always! I live in Exeter and it was really cool seeing you out and about in familiar places! I sadly must admit that I did not know how much Roman archaeology was all around Exeter...but now I do! 😀 As soon as I heard about the amazing discoveries by Exeter University about all the Roman roads, I wondered if you guys would investigate and make a video!

[@greentravels2850]

Another great video to illustrate why I love this channel; a great history lesson, lovely views of the UK, questions and answers, and great hosts. Keep up the good work!

[@martinross5521]

Thank you for a great video and the new LiDAR analysis has really lit up the research. Good to see you exploring in our part of the country!

[@Brix96]

it`s been known for a long time that the romans came further than Exeter ,in Brixham theres a Cavern where a number of religious artefacts were found.

[@cooper68ns]

I said it once before but I am going to say it again. I have been really enjoying your videos lately. Not so rushed and so well done thank you so very much for all your hard work. Cheers

[@jordesclark]

I was very excited seeing this research a few weeks back. I live in North Tawton, and the study placed the town in a very important position. Nemetostatio, as the Romans named it, could be much more important than we first thought. And thanks to your video, I may just begin doing my own research into the area, and the roads. Thanks Paul, for another great video

[@PipBin]

How do you both manage to create these each week!? Such great content and entertainment.

[@pwhitewick]

I'm not 100% sure. 🤪

[@eucharistodeo]

I've always said our Roman mapping was downright stupid in places. Decades ago i would look at the same maps of the SW & ask, so how did they get the tin & lead out? Fly it to Exeter? & If that really was the western most place, why on earth does the road continue? It wasn't walled off! Yet why could no one see these inconsistencies? Same with the A5 at the NW end & be all those myths! I'm so glad you're doing these videos to work on seeing the record straight. The Romans were just as, if not more logical in their thinking & practicality than we ever will be, that's why we miss so much! Straight (minimum bend, etc) saves, time, 💰 & makes a statement; unlike after they left if someone winged about a road through x, it went around, hence lots of the bends! (Compare that to much of the modern trunk road & railway building in France & Germany) just like was done with the settle to Carlisle railway, a line on a map! It works, with just kind to iron out later! Why on earth would you stop at Exeter when all the lucrative mines are in the next 150+mi further W? You need a network of roads to get that stuff out! It's simple logic! & As much to ports as roads inland given Rome had a navy & merchant ships! The CB used Dover & Chester & got there going past Cornwall! Logic says there should be ports in that area! This needs shouting about much more! Thanks & well done!

[@66kbm]

Depending on your Roman knowledge of Devon and your contacts within the Archaeological community, it was, not is, well known that many Roman sites existed/exist beyond Exeter. Looking at your road maps of recent info shared on the internet, most of that is already known, it just took 1 person to put the pieces of the puzzle together. II AVG in AD50 was camped in the region of North Tawton where a massive temporary Legionary Fortress was uncovered.....over 30 years ago. Sooo as i said, most is existing info, someone decided to put the pieces together. Good on them.

[@pwhitewick]

Agree with all that! Lots more to do I feel

[@RichardFelstead1949]

Another well produced video Paul and Rebecca. Greetings from Australia.

[@angelaknisely-marpole7679]

Excellent, thank you!

[@davidguerin2921]

Hi Paul. I chanced upon your site just a few weeks back...loving it!!....and have joined the RRRA on your recommendation. Keep up the good work!!

[@michaelmiller641]

Very interesting! Paul. Thankyou

[@hond654]

Excellent presentation about new data, thanks!

[@pwhitewick]

Thank you

[@hanzzarkov7690]

Each time I think on it, it's surprising how long the Romans occupied Britain. Always fascinating to see late stage Roman occupation in these 'borderlands', and appreciate how ingrained it became.

[@gevetsrm]

As someone from the heavily recoded Roman Kent I found this video completely fascinating

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

"Recoded" or "recorded"? Possibly a lot of the problems with the reliability of older sources might be due more to the diminishing cognitive abilities of the Old Fart transcribers than any other factor? 😉

[@glyn829]

Nice film Paul you sure put some work into your research made a very interesting film 👍 regards Glyn

[@llywrch7116]

About your comment that we don't know the Roman names for their roads in Britain. I have a theory that the name for Akeman Street derives from the Roman name for Bath, Aquae. Thus ad Aquanam (if I remember my Latin correctly), or "to Bath". Unfortunately, the earliest mention of this road is post-Conquest, so even if plausible this is not conclusive. I connected the points many years ago, but this is the first opportunity I've had to share it with anyone who might be able to confirm my theory. Thanks for that opportunity.

[@highpath4776]

With Roman sail going up the Bristol Channel (for the Severn Gloucester etc and S Wales) I would imagine that the Cornish were not seen as needing overall "control" , mostly due to the weather and maybe compliant (or males taken for Roman Army service in the Med ) people. A lot more sea routes meant roads less needed

[@adamg393]

Excellent video paul

[@notmozart1]

Welcome to my stomping ground. I thought you were going to suggest the route went further West to North Tawton as the Exeter Team have recently suggested.

[@xlithoplatemaker]

Nice one!

[@LordoftheBadgers]

You know they found a sizeable fort when they did road improvements at Roche in Cornwall? It's on a Digging For Britain episode

[@rutabagasteu]

Interesting. Thanks.

[@MrGreatplum]

Exeter will always have a special place in my heart as that’s where I went to uni and met my wife. Everywhere you showed was familiar to me. I wonder why they haven’t found more archaeological evidence further west? Cornish tin was much sought after by the Roman Empire - Exeter would have been quite a port before the weirs on the Exe - I wonder if much of it travelled by boat rather than road? As ever, a very interesting video!

[@llywrch7116]

The presence of an archaeological find is often the result of active searching. In other words, the more archaeologists looking for something in a given area, the more likely something will be found. Cornwall most likely just needs more people prowling about the countryside for Roman remains.

[@leeclift4666]

Interesting Paul thanks for posting 🙂

[@Bender24k]

I've got some very nice maps of Rome, New York. That's as close to a Roman Road as I'm likely to see! Thanks Paul (and Rebecca) super enjoyable as usual!

[@cargy930]

I'm often familiar with parts of your videos where I have trodden the same footsteps at one time or another. But this is the first time ever where I've walked the entire video - in the same direction too!

[@pwhitewick]

I felt Clockwise was the right way

[@iancharlton678]

Paul, great work…….. I long since stopped watching the TV…… ironically, having invested in a gigantic 65” monster - which I never watch, apart from the odd film. Your narrative, camera work and editing rival any documentary content I had previously watched…… I wait for each new video 🥳🇬🇧 Do please carry on the pair of you…….

[@nontimehistory5679]

I’m trying to work out king street and mareham lane. I think the agger has been completely ploughed out 😞 I’m also currently creating a 3D virtual road of king street and mareham lane. Now imagine walking that Paul.

[@hectorthorverton4920]

Looking at a geological map shows that the 'Exeter Traps' (the volcanic stone) pop up at various places up the Exe valley, and were quarried commercially until the 20th century. You see that rust-coloured lava in a high proportion of the remaining mediaeval buildings in Exeter and around. About 9:00 you show part of the remains of the old Exe bridge, and different stone crops up here. The relative cheapness of this stone partly accounts for the fact that cottages that would elsewhere in Devon have been built of cob have quite a lot of stone in them.

[@andrewlamb8055]

Terrific Paul! Well done and keep these instalments coming please, if you can mate 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇦🇺👍👋👏💫⚔️

[@davidbassett4577]

Fascinating video Paul .. think Devon & Cornwall has many mysteries to be uncovered not just from The Roman Empire Days! My grandfather on my father’s side was born in St Dominic Cornwall .. and retired back to Devon after he retired .. he is buried in the cemetery behind the church at Mary Tavy on edge of Dartmoor .. spent many happy summers staying down there in mid 1960’s … the history and beauty of both those magical counties have always intrigued me .. there is also a monument to a very distant relative at Carné Brea just outside Illogan in Cornwall (Basset monument) .. my middle name is in honour of my grandfather & a good old Cornish name too .. “ Edgar” .. hope to see more of your videos (abandoned railways & tramways possibly? ) from that neck of the woods as I live over 200+ miles away in Buckinghamshire!!

[@tribuneoftheplebes7345]

Love how the Roman sections still look the best lol

[@Astro_Gardener]

Exeter, best city in the country. I would say that as I was born there.

[@robinhayhurst5943]

"Let's go back 285 million years when this hill ...was a volcano...and the Romans had been here for 140 years"... I didn't know the Roman Empire went that far back!!! Well... you learn something new every day!

[@markfeldhaus1]

Sorry, but you parsed the sentence incorrectly.

[@margaretcook560]

Try listening to what he says.

[@zengintepe]

Great video, thank you Paul. One of your very best IMO (although as I live in Exeter I may be a tad biased!)

[@Noway600]

Thank you.

[@mphys5370]

I was taught in School that the Romans left the west off their maps because they didn't want others to find out about the large quantities of tin they were mining.

[@stevecriddle3299]

"Lympne" is actually pronounced "Lim". But there's no way to know that from the spelling.

[@markstuartwakeley]

My home City interesting they have found new temporary forts at the Bus Station and Topsham road and still the earliest roman mosaic found in England from the bathhouse I believe??

[@paulharvey9149]

Fascinating as always, Paul. I wonder if Exeter's role was similar to the much shorter-lived Bertha - i.e. the most westerly (and northerly in Bertha's case) permanently occupied place - from which various sorties to further afield might have been launched? That might help explain the fragmented routes in North Somerset, Mid-Devon and Cornwall - especially if they pre-existed in some form already, and the Romans therefore improved only their worst stretches for ease of access/egress - but they didn't become proper Roman Roads because there were no permanent settlements in those areas to the west of the Exe? My interest in Bertha is because I'm a native of Perth, incidentally!

[@davie941]

hi again Paul and Rebecca , interesting as always , really well done and thank you both 😊😍

[@richardwakelin843]

I grew up just east of Exeter near seaton, there are roman remains at seaton, also a place called foss court, said to be part of the foss way. There is also parts of a straight road which i have followed . Its easy to pick up from the A3052, it crosses more modern roads, it goes through an old area used to be known as sandpits, now filled in, then it goes down through the woods and crosses the river coly in between colyton & southleigh, up over the other side of the valley to the top to a place known as sutton thorn & another sandpit/ quarry. it then joins what is now the A30 which joins the A303 & goes up to London. Within an distance of about 20 miles of colyton i counted i think 15 iron age hill forts also.

[@malcolmdalrymple1779]

Fascinating. Thanks.

[@pwhitewick]

Our pleasure!

[@cepopeye]

I’m such a nerd that I’ve been studying this siege for a month Amazing to just see it 😮

[@pwhitewick]

Ooooh pray tell more

[@cepopeye]

@@pwhitewick well, I’m operating on the assumption that America was “discovered” in 1492 because the Reconquista ended in 1491 and it was no longer a state secret, and under this premise I trace the scottish through Indian tribes in Nova Scotia and a document of a 1398 Scottish voyage to Nova Scotia, and blahblah The point is the split that became the American revolution happened when Harold Godwinson’s widow abandoned Exeter during the siege and fled William’s “harrying of the north” to sanctuary in Scotland Basically I contend that the political faction that became the American revolution traces directly to the resistance to the Normans, as opposed to echoing the English Civil war, and that Hereward (in addition to being Robin Hood) was the father of the American revolution, which was something else entirely than the wellspring of sudden brilliance that we are taught in American school

[@andrewgraham4372]

And you put Axminster on the map so to speak, my home town 🙂 Exeter is a great small city and you’ve made an excellent interesting video 👍🏻

[@Fozz84]

Great video. I live in torbay. So much history here hidden.

[@paulhardingharding3192]

I enjoyed that, I live in Exeter Devon.

[@tomrainboro3728]

Don't underestimate the difficulty of building roads in the south-west! Check out Bury Barton at Lapford and Roman marching camp at North Tawton. My guess is that Exeter would feel very much like the edge of the Empire in the first phase of the occupation (43 - 70).

[@TurboTimsWorld]

again as a Devonian have you ever tried to find Ikea, and I used to live across the magic roundabout in Swindon Exeter is a nightmare to navigate

[@WestCountryClegg]

Thanks Paul Cleggy

[@AnthonyIlstonJones]

As far as I'm aware the Fosse Way is far older than the Roman presence in Britannia. Laying out a straight trackway isn't as difficult as you might imagine, you really only need three straight sticks that can be seen well from a distance.You'd be surprised how small a deviation from straight you can actually spot.

[@bill8784]

Fascinating insight into something I have long wondered about (the real actual extent of Roman rule particularly in the south west and Cornwall). Thank you.

[@theoztreecrasher2647]

Those dastardly Romans "spread the benefits of their civilization" to the savages of Briton for the same reason that later Brits painted the maps red - to snaffle up resources. The tin of Cornwall was a major priority so it's hardly likely that the area wasn't under their iron grip. But ore and ingots being weighty items, they were much more likely to develop shipping facilities than long distance wagon roads. Also the folks who were assigned to do the digging then were not today's FIFO budding millionaires and so there was no need to provide flash villas and bath houses for them - just a place to dump the bodies when they had been worked to death, Mein Centurion! 😱

[@malcolmrichardson3881]

Really interesting video which raises a lot of questions. Exeter was also a major port (via Topsham) and Roman supply route. This might suggest its importance as a transit hub within the Roman system of communications - internally and externally. As you suggest, it would be surprising if there were no Roman settlements of significance west of Exeter and a road network connecting them. Another point might be that although we know something about the main arteries of the Roman network, we seem to know less about its 'local stubs or branches' - if such there were. Your call to 'get to grips with the parts we don't know about' should be welcomed.

[@Lichfeldian--Suttonian]

Many thanks, Paul. This was fascinating. The amount of research that you do is magnificent. I didn’t know about the existence of that volcano! As a rock collector on my youth, I should know better! Roman existence west of Isca Dumnoniorum? Why not? It does seem though that in history, the Cornovii foreigners (“Corn” & “wall”) - to quote the English - are kind of autonomous: language etc. We even have a “Duke of Cornwall” which appears to separate it, and parts of Devon, from the rest of England. More research wanted for sure.

[@noveli77]

Have you read The Ancient Paths by Graham Robb? The Romans used existing British roads initially, which were totally straight.

[@mjwemdee]

Terrific video. How often I’ve driven round the old Exe bridge and mourned the covering-up of history. I live in the Netherlands now but still Exeter has a place in my heart; my alma mater. Lived in Torquay too: but the Romans seem to have avoided that one.

[@pwhitewick]

Or did they....

[@stephfoxwell4620]

Hembury Fort, near Exeter is officially the fourth oldest inhabited site in Britain and one of the oldest in Europe.

[@simonwood1402]

It like the London Underground Map 🚇 some stations appear to be close by when in fact they are far apart.....

[@damianbutterworth2434]

I live next to the FossDyke in Saxilby Lincolnshire. I thought the A46 Foss way went up to Grimsby, going through Lincoln.

[@totoro123]

Nostalgia... I went to Uni at Exeter

[@rogerwilco2]

6:26 This sounds like such a British way of doing this.