The Topography of Stane Street. By Captain W. A. Grant.
(Long. Ss. net.)
Captain Grant, writing as a military surveyor of experience with a good knowledge of the ground, subjects Mr. Belloc's well-known book on Stane Street to a severe castigation. Stane Street is, of course, the Roman road that ran from Chichester, by way of Pulborough and Dorking, to London. The expert shows that Mr. Belloc's alignments are inaccurate, to put it mildly. He goes on to explain how the Roman engineers probably went to work, beginning with three align- ments, London—Chichester, Chichester—Pulborough, Pul- borough—London, forming what is technically known as a " closed traverse." The Romans, he thinks, used the half-way heights of Leith Hill and Box Hill as points of observation for the preliminary survey. The detailed proof of this hypo- thesis deserves attention, for it illustrates not merely the special case of Stane Street but the Roman roads in general. The little book increases our admiration for the Roman engineer.
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