Romans

Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day for me, so I thought today I would post a calming blip!

I am fortunate to live in a beautiful bit of countryside. This morning, whilst walking my dog, I picked up a sheet of discarded paper on the footpath. It had been printed from the internet and was the description of part of a circular walk that goes past my house. Here's what it says.

The valley rises on both sides to a chalk plateau. Human impact on the landscape here is very ancient. There is a pattern of long, narrow, rectangular fields. It seems to be the remains of the Roman grid field system known as 'Centuriation' (division into hundreds) that was laid out possibly in the late 1st century A.D.

From Wikipedia I learnt
The fields are typically 776 yards long and would have been set out by Agrimensores - Men specifically employed to do measuring and to prevent disputes over boundaries.

I knew that this area was heavily populated by the Romans. The good road and rail links to Londinium, and the Eurostar link from St Pancreas to Gaul, made for easy travel back to Latium for the Roman settlers.

For me, the landscape I live in suddenly makes sense. It is astonishing to think that the long field boundaries, divided by straight lanes, by-ways and footpaths, with ancient hedges either side, have remained unchanged for about 2,000 years. And to think it has taken me until to find out about it!

The photo, taken this glorious sunny morning shows six fields in this pattern, with the ancient hedges, looking from my home towards Verulamium, some seven miles distant.

Damn that electricity pylon in shot!

Oh, and the crop in the foreground is field beans which will be harvested any day now.. Not pretty but it has provided a haven for wildlife, birds and insects this summer.