Roman Roads in Lancashire - Historical Background

Antonine Itinerary X

Medieval copies survive of a List of Roman Routes known as the Antonine Itineraries, which is believed to date from the early 3rd Century. It consists of a series of place names and the distance between them. The route of interest for Lancashire is the so called Xth Iter which follows a contentious route, North to South, through Ribchester and Manchester. A Roman mile (approximately 1500 metres) is coincidentally close to the British statute mile and it is, therefore, possible to make a direct comparison between the distances given in the Iter and the mileage by known routes between Roman sites.

With Ribchester only known for certain it is difficult to interpret and therefore prove routes or names. The itineraries are notorious for copying errors only adding to the difficulty. However, we now know the road network much more securely. This rules out several previous suggestions where there are simply no road connections. Yes the solution I put forward has some distance anomolies - those copying errors? - but it uses real roads.

Roman Name	Distance in Iter X	Tradional	Shotter*	IG Smith**	Ratledge***
in Iter X	Roman Miles	Location	Location	Location	Location

GLANOVENTA		Ravenglass	Ambleside	Ambleside	Ambleside
	XVIII 18				20
GALAVA		Ambleside	Low Borrow Br	lost	Hincaster
	XII 12				13
ALONE		Kendal	Over Burrow	Lancaster	Lancaster
	XVIIII 19				13.5
GALACVM		Over Burrow	Lancaster	Over Burrow	Over Burrow
	XXVII 27				30
BREMETENNACVM		Ribchester	Ribchester	Ribchester	Ribchester
	XX 20				24 via Fulwood
COCCIVM		Wigan	Wigan	Wigan	Wigan
	XVII 17				17
MANCVNIVM		Manchester	Manchester	Manchester	Manchester
	XVIII 18				23.5
CONDATE		Northwich	Northwich	Northwich	Middlewich
	XVIIII 19				20
MEDIOLANVM		Whitchurch	Whitchurch	Whitchurch	Whitchurch
Total	CL 150

* D. Shotter, Romans and Britons in North West England, 1997

** I.G. Smith, Britannia 1997

*** based on known roads

Ravenglass is no longer believed to be Glanoventa and the OS Roman Britain Map 5th Edition places Glanibanta (=Glanoventa) at Ambleside.

My suggestion is based on known secure roads and is similar to Smith's. As far as I can see it is the only viable solution based on the road network. Yes some mileages are in error but every solution has mileage errors too. Most have more errors.

It places Alone at Lancaster. We know the Roman name began with L and the valley is called Lonsdale (River Lune).

The route bypasses Watercrook – a surprise but not unique to the itineraries.

Hincaster – the earthworks for the A590 blasted through Roman remains (pottery including Samian) but the exact location is not known but must be close to Margary 70e ie within 1 mile.

Ribchester to Over Burrow is 29 miles and is a reasonable match to the 27 miles to Galacum, Ribchester to Lancaster being only 20.5 miles.

Coccio/Coccium is now almost certainly confirmed as Wigan and its distance from Ribchester is given as 20 miles. The only known route between them is west to Fulwood and then south via Walton-le-Dale. This totals 24 miles. A direct route however would be a better match at 20.5 miles but evidence is so far not forthcoming.

Wigan to Manchester is 17 miles, a good agreement.

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Last update: 2022