"Sunningdale" seems to be a late naming due to it being the "downy" bit next to Sunning Hill. Any pre-1811 references to the place name would be appreciated. It's late naming might explain why a northern toponym is being adopted.... the name has no bearing on the sites lack of elevation.
"Better than expected" and "at least as good as most of the other places" Might have some merit as a comment, most shown above are so outrageously weak that they shouldn't be included in any relative analysis that takes topography seriously as a determinant. If however the "many" includes either Tring or Church Stowe...
"If he was advancing from Wales to Colchester he would have bypassed Church Stowe entirely"
The red line is a direct line from Wroxeter to Colchester, some deviation might have to be accounted for however you choose to tell the story..... but basically this is as the crow flies, although I prefer to assume the line of what is now Watling Street was a more likely specific route at least as far as Church Stowe...
The little "X" is the site of Church Stowe. Of course his force passed Church Stowe on the way up and the way down....... unless they were sea borne... or took a strangely circuitous route to an unlikely destination.
Depots.... if there were depots/marshalling areas in safe territory that would be an excellent site for jumping off or just storing stuff such as the lead shot at Windridge (it's a ploughed up cache not a battlefield scatter) ..... once we have Castle Dykes and Castle Yard firmly dated to Roman (or not) we can riff on that.. until then we rely on Upex's Nene line of 47AD as a known military landscape with features... what military doesn't have strategically placed depots?
This narrative is so clean and straight forward you shouldn't be having convulsions.... can I suggest you take a day trip or two to look at the ground.
"Better than expected" and "at least as good as most of the other places" Might have some merit as a comment, most shown above are so outrageously weak that they shouldn't be included in any relative analysis that takes topography seriously as a determinant. If however the "many" includes either Tring or Church Stowe...
"If he was advancing from Wales to Colchester he would have bypassed Church Stowe entirely"
The red line is a direct line from Wroxeter to Colchester, some deviation might have to be accounted for however you choose to tell the story..... but basically this is as the crow flies, although I prefer to assume the line of what is now Watling Street was a more likely specific route at least as far as Church Stowe...
The little "X" is the site of Church Stowe. Of course his force passed Church Stowe on the way up and the way down....... unless they were sea borne... or took a strangely circuitous route to an unlikely destination.
Depots.... if there were depots/marshalling areas in safe territory that would be an excellent site for jumping off or just storing stuff such as the lead shot at Windridge (it's a ploughed up cache not a battlefield scatter) ..... once we have Castle Dykes and Castle Yard firmly dated to Roman (or not) we can riff on that.. until then we rely on Upex's Nene line of 47AD as a known military landscape with features... what military doesn't have strategically placed depots?
This narrative is so clean and straight forward you shouldn't be having convulsions.... can I suggest you take a day trip or two to look at the ground.
