Clavering Place, Roman road

A metalled road, 16 feet wide, was found during excavations in 2008 on the BEMCO site on Clavering Place. The road was flanked by substantial drainage ditches, which were necessary as the clay subsoil is prone to waterlogging. The road was aligned north-south and may have run to the west gate of Pons Aelius Fort, which lay some 490 feet to the north-east. West of the road the land was divided into a number of tenements occupied by rectangular strip buildings, metalled yards, rubbish pits, wells and areas of industrial activity. One of the boundary ditches contained the broken topstone of a Mayan lava quern, which would have been brought here through the military supply network.