Roman Road Building 101

The Appian Way? No, just my garden path.

Over the past few weeks I have (weather permitting) been building my very own Roman road. Oh all right its my garden path that leads to the back of my house! Anyway, I have done this before, last year I paved the back half of my driveway with used red bricks. I intend to complete the rest of the driveway project over Christmas.

I was inspired by the Romans when I began it and resisted cutting corners and doing it easy. I broke up the driveway with a crowbar and manually carried the rubble out front where it shamefully still sits today. With the help of my father, we cleared the ground, like any good Roman soldier would and then surveyed the land to work out the exact route of the road. Sorry, I mean driveway! Like a disciplined Roman soldier I dug a shallow trench and filled it in with stones and pebbles and packed it down to make a firm base. After I was satisfied with the shape of the road (allowing for rainwater run off) I packed a layer of sand on top. From here I began laying the road surface brick by brick. Once I had completed this and was satisfied with its stability I swept in a ready mix of mortar. Okay, now I am cheating a little. Shh, don’t tell the Romans!

And so there you have it folks. An authentic Roman road that anyone can do if you really try. And like all good roads this one too, leads to Rome!

The Appian Way, Rome.

Photo Credit: The image of the remains of the Appian Way in Rome, near Casalrotondo is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.