History of Leicestershire
The Measham-Donisthorpe exclave of Derbyshire has been exchanged for the Netherseal/Overseal area, and the urban expansion of Market Harborough has caused Little Bowden, previously in Northamptonshire to be annexed.
Where the escarpment had broken down as it had in Northamptonshire and Leicestershire it is impossible to know what route was followed; however where the uplands formed a narrow belt the approximate line of it can be identified.
[3] Another prehistoric road came from the Fens and crossed the limestone plateau round Croxton Kerrial and Saltby, then went between Eastwell and Goadby Marwood and then southwestwards past Wartnaby and Six Hills to reach the Soar at Barrow.
It begins at Stamford (whose name means "stone ford", a ford by which the Welland was crossed) following the line of Ermine Street (a Roman road) but diverges from the Roman road towards the left and rises to its summit of 500 feet near Buckminster; thereafter it crosses Saltby heath and goes by Three Queens to reach the Vale of Belvoir where its course cannot be identified.
When coaches started to run in the later 17th century a different route was taken via Stretton, Colsterworth and Great Ponton since Sewstern Lane would have provided insufficient staging posts where food for men and horses would be available.
[6] The plateau round Tilton was a meeting place for prehistoric tracks: one of these which is called in its latter stages Ridgemere Lane runs north of Cold Newton, by New York farm to the edge of the flood plain of the Wreak near Syston.
[7] Another very old road, perhaps a true ridgeway of the Bronze Age, comes westwards from Stamford and follows a limestone ridge then goes by Edith Weston, Manton and Martinsthorpe (a deserted village) to enter Leicestershire near Withcote.
The longest single stretch of road is between High Cross and the vanished Roman station of Vernemetum and is part of the Fosse Way, constructed about 46-48 AD.
The road from Leicester to Manduessum (now Mancetter) was probably made some 20 years later than Watling Street and is part of the rout known as the Via Devana between Camulodunum (today Colchester) and Deva Victrix (now Chester).
None of these early stone bridges survives but there are some later ones in existence at Aylestone, Anstey, Enderby Mill (the road to it was diverted away when turnpikes were built) and Rearsby.
The earthworks of Leicestershire include hill-top camps of the 1st century BC and the sites of deserted villages abandoned in the later Middle Ages.
There are hill-forts, Roman camps (e.g. Ratby), linear earthworks, castle-sites (e.g.Hallaton), moated homesteads and sites of deserted villages (e.g. Ingarsby).
However, during the rest of the Middle Ages most of the land was progressively cleared and settled; so that it became populous and prosperous, but more so in the eastern half and in the southeast.
[11] Together with Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland and Northamptonshire Leicestershire was inhabited by the ancient British tribe formerly known as Coritani (now corrected to Corieltauvi).
