SLHS Strait Ford

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An Unproven Theory

There is inconclusive evidence of another river crossing at Tiddington protected by some form of fort or castle on the north side of the river. See Welcombe Castle.

Bishop Of Worcester Saves The Settlement From Frequent Calamity

The hard outcrop of rock forming the bed of the ford had been known for centuries before the Romans came. Iron age fragments have been discovered in the grounds of Alveston Manor which date to approximately 1000BC. Any ongoing settlement there was never successful because the area became so badly flooded during most winters. This concerned the Bishop Of Worcester so much that he decided to move the whole settlement to higher ground on the other side of the river. See John de Coutances. However there still remained no dry connection south.

Bridgetown

The importance of the turnpike enabling trade to the south encouraged some warehouses to be built on the south bank and therefore there were attempts at bridges but they were regularly washed away. See Bear Inn.

Clopton Bridge

Eventually town’s great benefactor, Hugh Clopton, allocated a huge sum of money to build the Clopton Bridge. Completed in 1484 it’s 14 arches are still in use 540 years later.

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The Salt Way

Location

For millennia it had been well known that massive quantities of saturated brine come out of the ground at Droitwich. Where available Roman armies were generally paid in salt (hence the word ‘salary’). After the Romans invaded Briton in 43AD and discovered this brine source they couldn’t believe their luck and decided to harvest it in great quantities.

Transporting Salt

The brine was dried to make solid salt and transported South-east along a new strait meaning street (click map right). In  modern times this has been given the name The Salt Way because it’s Roman name has not yet been found written down. From Droitwich it passed through Alcester and Banbury on the way to Londinium (Stratford didn’t exist at that time).

Strait Ford

Impeding their route lay the River Avon. As it drained a very large basin it was very prone to flooding so they had to chose a route to cross at a reliably shallow point. Over the majority of its route the ground was soft and therefore river was deep -only in one place place does the river cross a hard outcrop of rock thus causing the river to be wide and shallow. This was the point chosen by the Romans. However because of the width of the river at this point the strait did not cross by a wooden bridge but by a ford. It became known as Strait Ford.

Aston Rowan Historical Society describe the Romans work thus..

1. The Romans industrialised the salt extraction process & then supplied that salt across the Midlands. Droitwich lies on a minor roman road between modern-day Birmingham & Worcester (A38).
   

2. The Salt Way begins as a road heading east, roughly following the B4090, to the convergence of the Rivers Alne & Arrow at Alcester. There it met a more major north-south road, Ryknild or Icknield Street (not to be confused with the Icknield Way along the Chilterns). From the crossing of the Arrow The Salt Way follows the route of the A422 into Stratford-upon-Avon (although today the modern road bypasses Alcester). The route of the roman road is most likely marked, not by the old main road, but by the footpath south of that which leaves to the town heading towards the main road. From Alcester the route is a straight line, including the escarpment at Red Hill, to the Roman crossing point on the River Avon at the medieval ‘Clopton Bridge’.
   

3. The Salt Way splits from the Modern A422 (the Route of the Georgian, Stratford & Edgehill Turnpike) heading to the south of the road – perhaps crossing the hill there on the present day tramway on an alignment with Black Marton Hill. On the far side of Ettington it crosses the major roman highway, the Fosse Way*. From Ettington the exact route is then lost..”
   

4. *Exeter to Lincoln.

From: Aston Rowant: The Salt Way