HIGHWAYS TO HISTORY
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As something of a relic himself, the Hawk was interested in a recent booklet published by the Highways Agency: Roads to the Past. The Highways Agency is responsible for 6,500 miles of motorway and trunk roads in England, and when making improvements is responsible for recording and preserving any artifacts that are unearthed. This booklet, the third in a series, contains some of the exciting finds that the agency has made over the past three years.
On the A13 Wennington to Mar Dyke, evidence of our wilder past was revealed when 200,000-year old fossils were discovered in the Dimes Estuary, at Aveley in Essex. These included the remains of a large lion, a brown bear, a wolf, a rhinoceros and a long horned giant ox which stood two metres high at the shoulders. You wouldn't
want to meet that beast late at night OR a country road!
On the A417/A419 Swindon to Gloucester, 35 sites dating from Roman times were discovered. In one of these, near Birdlip Quarry, they found some hipposandals; Roman horseshoes which were tied to the horses' feet to protect them if they were injured.
Not all the finds are so ancient; on the M65 Blackburn Southern Bypass, excavations made at two World War II sites include an anti-aircraft installation and the foundations of a prisoner-of-war camp. It's all fascinating and the good part is that Roads to the Past is free from the Highways Agency. Tel: 0171921 4029,