From Chapter 2 :
"By 47 AD the Roman army controlled all of England to the south of a line that ran from the river Severn to the Trent, the so-called ‘Fosse Way Frontier’ which linked by road the sites at Exeter and Lincoln - this left the territory of the Catuvellauni well within the ‘conquered zone’ .
It is possible that an earlier ‘line of advance’ existed prior to that established between the Severn and Trent frontier. The valley of the river Nene could well have formed a boundary at which the Roman military would have halted at the end of a campaigning season before advancing further to the north and west the following spring. The geography of the area and its natural features which could easily be defended would not have been missed by the Roman planners and the first century river Nene, with its wide and un-drained course, would have consisted of an expanse of alluvial marsh with a myriad of channels flowing along the base of its valley - a very defensible barrier."
The Romans in the East of England;
Settlement and Landscape in the Lower Nene Valley:
Occupation, Settlement and Industry in the Nene Valley
(Upex 2008)
Turns out Upex was unaware of the Baker paper/theory when he wrote this.
"By 47 AD the Roman army controlled all of England to the south of a line that ran from the river Severn to the Trent, the so-called ‘Fosse Way Frontier’ which linked by road the sites at Exeter and Lincoln - this left the territory of the Catuvellauni well within the ‘conquered zone’ .
It is possible that an earlier ‘line of advance’ existed prior to that established between the Severn and Trent frontier. The valley of the river Nene could well have formed a boundary at which the Roman military would have halted at the end of a campaigning season before advancing further to the north and west the following spring. The geography of the area and its natural features which could easily be defended would not have been missed by the Roman planners and the first century river Nene, with its wide and un-drained course, would have consisted of an expanse of alluvial marsh with a myriad of channels flowing along the base of its valley - a very defensible barrier."
The Romans in the East of England;
Settlement and Landscape in the Lower Nene Valley:
Occupation, Settlement and Industry in the Nene Valley
(Upex 2008)
Turns out Upex was unaware of the Baker paper/theory when he wrote this.
