The Archaeology Files - Ackling Dyke

Date of visit: 1 March 2020

Location: East Woodyates, Dorset (12 miles north east of Blandford Forum) and Badbury Rings, Dorset (five miles south east of Blandford Forum) 

Time period: Roman, AD43 - AD410

Type of site: Earthwork remains of a Roman road which ran from Salisbury to Badbury Rings hillfort and possibly further to the south west.

Photos: Ackling Dyke site visit photo album 

Description and observations:

The Roman road of Ackling Dyke runs from Badbury Rings Iron Age hillfort (near the town of Blandford Forum in Dorset) in a north east direction, terminating at the hillfort of Old Sarum, in modern-day Salisbury.  The road fascinates me because at nearly 2,000 years old, it somehow still manages to exist, for a vast amount of its route, in the modern landscape.  In typical English history style, the name we give to the Roman road is actually of Anglo Saxon origin, suggesting that perhaps they didn't know what they were looking at (or that maybe the road had deteriorated so much by the time it was found, that it no longer resembled a road.)  

I first encounter Ackling Dyke after pulling into a lay-by on the A354, right on the Hampshire-Dorset border at a little hamlet called East Woodyates.  I’ve identified the site from Google Maps, so am not entirely sure what to expect on the ground, but I can clearly see that on this bend of the A354 the modern road (which has followed the path of Ackling Dyke for the last couple of miles) arcs eastwards, departing from the course of the original Roman road, and leaving Ackling Dyke preserved as what appears to be earthworks in the landscape, running to the north east.  Nowadays the old road appears to form some sort of bridal way across a nature reserve, and the earthworks are very subtle, as shown below.

Ackling Dyke, where the course of the modern road departs from the Roman

Ackling Dyke preserved as slight earthworks at East Woodyates

Beyond this section, heading north east towards Salisbury, the road is preserved mainly through hedgerows, with the occasional earthwork surviving in the land - a great example of this is the stretch immediately north east of East Woodyates, as shown below.  From the landscape archaeologist’s perspective, such close alignment of the field boundaries to the old Roman road suggests that the field system in this area is newer than the road – they’re broadly linear to the course of the road, with very little to suggest that a prehistoric field system is in use here.  And when it gets to the outskirts of the modern city of Salisbury, Ackling Dyke forms the boundary of the Salisbury and South Wilts golf course and forms a suburban road through a 20th century housing estate, before eventually terminating at the humongous Iron Age hillfort of Old Sarum.  At Old Sarum, it connects to Port Way, which runs to Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) and London (Londinium,) the capital of Roman Britain.

Various ways that Ackling Dyke is preserved in a short section of landscape at East Woodyates

Ackling Dyke preserved in various ways on the approach to Old Sarum, Salisbury

Going in the other direction from East Woodyates, Ackling Dyke trundles merrily in a south west direction, destination Badbury Rings, some 11 miles away.  Now, Badbury will be the subject of another blog in the near future, but sticking to the Roman road on this site, it forms some low-key but definitely visible earthworks across the north west side of the hillfort.  I actually wandered around for a good 25 minutes trying to find this road on my visit, eventually linking up with it where it passes close to three Bronze Age barrows, just before continuing across the path of the B3082 and forming the line of the modern road heading south west (this road travels to Dorchester, then on to Exeter - although whether it is still called Ackling Dyke after Badbury seems debatable.)  This is visible in the aerial photo below, whilst the Ordnance Survey map of 1900 demonstrates where Ackling Dyke is intersected by another Roman road, which led to Hamworthy (Roman Moriconium), an Iron Age settlement that was used as a Roman harbour.  It's interesting that, at the point of contact with Badbury Rings, the road swings somewhat suddenly to the east, rather than clip the Iron Age earthworks - so does this suggest some sort of Roman respect for the site?  I think it probably does, in a similar way to the route of the road passing close to, but respecting the sanctity of, the Bronze Age barrows.

At Badbury Rings Ackling Dyke passes across the north west of the hillfort 

A second Roman road joins Ackling Dyke, as seen on the OS map of 1900

At this point, I’d like to point out the significance of the Roman Army deliberately linking this hillfort with Old Sarum (and if you include the onward road from Badbury Rings to Dorchester, it links to Maiden Castle too.)  These were some of the most imposing, important and revered sites to the local Iron Age population, also going across two different native “tribes” (the Durotriges at Maiden Castle and Badbury, and the Atrebates at Old Sarum.)  We know that there was still some native occupation at Maiden Castle and Old Sarum (Badbury, like most hillforts, appears to have been abandoned by the time of the Roman invasion.)  So what are we looking at here?  For what it’s worth, I think Ackling Dyke represents Rome’s attempt at “shock an awe” – much of the road was built with an exceptionally large embankment (wider than most Roman roads), designed to be seen from a great distance and to impress and intimidate the local population.  I think it makes a huge statement, to build a big military road in clear view of these sites.  On a more practical level, the road also allows for the swift movement of troops through the countryside, creating a quick means of communication between these sites.  

Ackling Dyke at Badbury Rings.  Note the three Bronze Age barrows in the distance

So that's Ackling Dyke - not the most famous road of Roman Britain, but certainly one that packs a punch in terms of archaeological interpretation, and a real good one for getting out in the field.  I'll leave you with an artist's impression of a Roman road in Britain.  It's not specifically Ackling Dyke, but it maybe gives a flavour for how the road looked nearly 2,000 years ago, bringing the maps and earthworks to life just a little bit.