Monument record 0105000000 - AKEMAN STREET

Plan Form - LINEAR
VERULAMIUM TO ALCHESTER (37 MILES). RUNS ON FINE AGGER 3-4FT HIGH FOR MOST OF WAY TO AYLESBURY. BEYOND AYLESBURY LINE FOLLOWED BY PRESENT ROAD. DISTINCT AGGER VISIBLE WHERE ROAD DIVERGES AT HAYDON HILL FARM (B1).
DOUBLE DITCH VISIBLE ON A/P BETWEEN SP7694 1588 & SP7717 1581 (B2).
ENTERS COUNTY ON COURSE OF PRESENT A41 AT SP9098 1102. AT SP7990 1485 A41 VEERS N OF PRESUMED COURSE. FROM SP7694 1588 COURSE FOLLOWED BY FOOTPATHS & FIELD BOUNDARIES (B3).
Evaluation trenching at Billingsfield carried out by AC Archaeology revealed the Roman road, comprising a gravel surface 6.6m wide max, with 2 ditches on each side. The inner ditches were larger than the outer ditches but varied considerably in width and depth. The gravel surface had been constructed on a raised bank of 3 make-up deposits, with a buried soil possibly surviving beneath. The road mid-line was found to be not on the published (OS) line, but parallel and approx 20m to the SW. [Subsequent analysis suggests this apparent difference in alignement was due to a surveying error during trial trenching]. The road seems to have been constructed fairly early during the Roman occupation as 2 cremation urns of the mid 1st century AD were inserted into pits cutting the edge of the outer ditch. Pottery from the fills of the flanking ditches is 1st to 4th century in date. The road and/or its ditches was identified in trenches C12, C14, D10, D10a, E4, E6, F2, F4 and G0 but was not identified by augering or in the 6 trial trenches in field 2 to the SE. APs clearly show the line of the road continuing to the SE beyond the river, so it seems likely that the road continued on the same alignment across the river but in a different form, perhaps a raised wooden trackway or an earth embankment? (B4).
THE COURSE OF AKEMAN STREET THROUGH AYLESBURY IS UNCERTAIN; (FOR DISCUSSION SEE B7-8). THE ROAD INTERSECTS WITH THE TOWN BOUNDARY AT NGR SP8462 1321 ON E & SP7931 1507 ON W.
Negative evaluation on projected line of route through Aylesbury (B6).
BROAD BANK BESIDE A41, SP8619 1264 TO SP8661 1254, ON N SIDE AGAINST HEDGEROW. UNLIKELY POSITION FOR MEDIEVAL HEADLAND, SO POSSIBLY REPRESENTS AKEMAN STREET (B9).
Geophysical surveys carried out by Pre-Construct Geophysics between January and May 2009 identified the remains of the flanking ditches of Akeman Street at the south of the survey area in Field 8. See report for detail (B13).
Trial trench evaluation identified a ditch just to the south of, and parallel to, the projected route of the Roman road of Akeham Street. It has been interpreted as a possible roadside ditch relating to the Roman road (B14).
HS2 remote survey near Fleet Marston identified that several sections of Akeman Street are visible as dark cropmarks of the flanking roadside ditches across three large fields. In this section, the ditch on the south-western side of the road is more strongly visible than that to the north-west. Several sections of Roman Akeman Street are visible as the dark cropmarks of the flanking roadside ditches across three large fields. In this section, two parallel ditches are visible. No trace of the central agger. Several sections of Roman Akeman Street are visible as the dark cropmarks of the flanking roadside ditches across three large fields. This is a tenuous interpretation, as the cropmarks in this section are not quite on the correct alignment.
The central agger of Roman Akeman Street is visible here as a light cropmark. LiDAR indicates that some slight height remains in a straight line across this field, along the route of the road, although it is barely perceptible.
A short stretch of roadside ditch flanks the southern side of the central agger of Roman Akeman Street. Visible here on aerial photographs as an indistinct dark cropmark against the lighter cropmark of the agger. (B15)
A weakly positive ditch like feature which is associated with a flanking ditch of the Roman road(B16).
Excavation south-east of Waddesdon identified no evidence for the suggested route of the Roman road (B17).
Geophysical survey, targeted on projected route of Roman Akeman Street north of Waddesdon Manor, failed to definitively locate the location of the Roman road. See report for details (B19).