Verulamium - A Triangle of Roman Roads

To the north-east of St Albans there are two Roman roads connecting Verulamium to the Roman towns/settlements of Braughing and Baldock. A third road completing the triangle connects Braughing to Baldock. Note that Braughing is pronounced “Braff-in”.
Heading out of Verulamium’s north gate the two roads initially share a common route and have the pre-Roman Beech Bottom Dyke to cross. Harpenden Road and Old Harpenden road probably mark the course. The roads divide at Sandridge with the easterly one going via Welwyn and on to Braughing. At Puckeridge and Braughing the route uses part of Ermine Street.
Just beyond the Braughing settlement the road to Baldock branches off and heads pretty directly to it. Baldock pre-dates the Romans being on the ancient Icknield Way. In the Roman era it had stone buildings and a temple.
We then turn to the south at Baldock and having past Stevenage the route onwards was previously unknown. Lidar has completed the connection all the way to Sandridge and back to Verulamium.
Lidar: DEFRA
Bespoke Lidar Software: Mike Aerts
Music: For Time To Disappear - Ryan McCaffrey

[@pwhitewick]

Well this was an unexpected joy. Thanks David.

[@davidratledge3530]

A new area for me but spotted a few missing sections so couldn't resist.

[@pwhitewick]

@@davidratledge3530 I do find the meeting point of many roads to the NE of St Albans quite the draw.

[@davidratledge3530]

@@pwhitewick Paul - the road layout in this area as depicted by Margary (1967 edition) is complicated by the many Roman roads suggested by the Viatores group (1964). Their RRs 210, 211 & 22 intermingle with the “triangle” but I have not been able to find much if any Lidar evidence in support of them. This is generally what I have found elsewhere with their suggestions.

[@buckynick]

Really great modern graphics, love the music, fascinating real earth history.

[@davidratledge3530]

Yes lidar is brilliant and shows clearly features invisible on the ground.

[@buckynick]

Expected the road to zigzag up the steeper hills, but no just straight lined it up and over. 🌍🌏🌎

[@davidratledge3530]

They tended to prefer no steeper than 1 in 10 but do go to 1 in 5 in really hilly terrain. They were not afraid to dig cuttings to smooth the gradients and a few are visible here.

[@davidstaveley]

I covered the Baldock to St. Albans Roman road on my channel too. It shows up better using DTM data.

[@davidratledge3530]

Just had a look at your channel - good to know you came to the same conclusion for the route from Stevenage to Sandridge. I use DSM for the videos as the 3D model is then much more realistic. When searching I use both DSM & DTM plus a hybrid combination. You are right some parts - mainly woodland - are often clearer in DTM but DTM does have artefacts where the algorithm guesses the ground level. My report with full details of all 3 roads is with Herts HER so hopefully the routes there will be updated.