Worksheet: Roman roads (answers)
Answers
1. What year did the Romans conquer Britain? One correct answer.
| Option |
Answer |
| a. 43 A.D. |
That's right. This was the year of the Roman Conquest. However, the Romans took a long time to take the more northerly parts of the country. And they never got control of Scotland. |
| b. 43 B.C. |
Not quite right. Although the Romans did conquer Britain in the year 43, it was not in 43 B.C. (Before Christ). |
| c. 143 A.D. |
No. That's a bit too late. |
2. What were the roads like at the time the Romans invaded? One correct answer.
| Option |
Answer |
| a. There were good routes linking all parts of the country. |
Not quite right. There was nothing like modern motorways linking one city with another many miles away. |
| b. Mostly poorly maintained local tracks and drove roads. |
Correct! There were very few long-distance routes. Most routes were small and badly maintained tracks, linking one village or town with another. |
| c. There were lots of roads, able to carry people, horses and carts. |
This is partly right. There were tracks at the time the Romans invaded. However, there were few routes down which heavy carts could travel. The Romans needed to carry heavy military equipment on carts - to do this, first they had to build new roads! |
3. What was Watling Street? One correct answer.
| Option |
Answer |
| a. A shopping street in Wroxeter. |
No. Although Wroxeter was a Roman town, |
| b. One of the first roads built by the Romans, running from Wroxeter to Leintwardine. |
Not quite right. Although the road did start in Wroxeter, and pass through Leintwardine, it ran further than this. From Shropshire, the road went south-west all the way to London. |
| c. A Roman road, which ran from Holyhead, through Wroxeter and on to London. |
Correct! Wroxeter, Holyhead and London were major Roman forts and towns, and it was important that the Roman military could pass quickly between important parts of their land. |
4. What clues can tell us if a road was originally built by the Romans? Two correct answers.
| Option |
Answer |
| a. The road is straight. |
Right. The Romans knew that the quickest route between two places is usually the most direct i.e. straightest. So the Romans built long, straight roads. |
| b. The road is tarmaced. |
No. Although the Romans built roads with good surfaces, tarmac was a much later invention. |
| c. We can look on Roman maps. |
No we can't. Unfortunately, there no maps of Roman roads have survived from all those years ago. They almost certainly did make plans, however. |
| d. Place names tell us if a town (-ton) was by a road or street (stret-). |
Correct! We can find all sorts of clues about where the Romans lived through place-names. For example, The Roman word for camp was 'castra'. So any place ending in -chester (which derives from 'castra') was probably a Roman camp. |
5. What methods did the Romans use to make their roads straight? Three correct answers.
| Option |
Answer |
| a. A groma. |
Yes. This was one special instrument the Romans used. |
| b. Compasses. |
Not right. Accurate compasses were not invented then. |
| c. Lighting two or more beacons and lining them up. |
Correct. Over long distances the Romans lit fires on the top of hills to see where they were heading. |
| d. Long lengths of rope. |
No. The lengths of rope needed would have been huge! |
| e. Placing two or more poles in the ground and lining them up. |
Correct. This was the most basic method of getting a straight line between two points. |
6. What are the typical features of Roman roads archaeologists find when they dig one up? Three correct answers.
| Option |
Answer |
| a. Tarmaced surface. |
Wrong. The black tarmac we see today on our roads was a modern invention. |
| b. Metalled surface. |
Correct. Roads were often metalled using slag, material left over from melting iron. |
| c. Kerb stones. |
Correct. Kerb stones at the side gave rain water a channel down which it could flow. |
| d. Road signs. |
There may have been road signs, but any evidence of these has now vanished. |
| e. Toll houses. |
No. The Romans did not charge for the use of their roads. They knew that better roads would help trade, and bring money in that way. |
| f. The road was cambered (it sloped towards the sides). |
Right. The Romans knew that by making a camber the rain water would run off. This would help prevent the road surface from being weathered away. |
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