The Topography of Stane Street: a Critical Review of “The Stane Street,” by Hilaire Belloc

IN his critical review of Mr. Belloc's “Stane Street,” Capt. Grant has produced a valuable study of this Roman way, which, although the author pretends to offer no opinion on historical or archaeological points and confines himself to questions of topography, is of no inconsiderable interest to archaeologists and students of Roman Britain. His criticism of Mr. Belloc is that, while an adept in map reading, his lack of familiarity with the principles of surveying for map construction has led him into numerous errors in tracing the alignments of Stane Street from Chichester to the site of Old London Bridge, sixty yards east of the modern bridge. Mr. Belloc's theory is that there were four great limbs or sections covering respectively the ground from Chichester (east gate) to Pulborough Bridge, from Borough Hill to Leith Hill, from Leith Hill to Juniper Hill, and from Juniper Hill to the southern end of London Bridge. Capt. Grant examines each of these in detail. and demonstrates the errors, while in a further chapter he indicates the true alignments and discusses the general principles upon which Stane Street would appear to have been planned. Capt. Grant is commendably precise in his criticisms, and in two appendices gives long lists, with references, of “Errors due to carelessness or Printers' Errors,” and “Errors due to Miscalculation and mis-statements arising therefrom.”The Topography of Stane Street: a Critical Review of “The Stane Street,” by Hilaire Belloc.Capt.W. A.GrantBy. Pp. 95. (London: John Long, Ltd., 1922.) 5s. net.