Fosse Way was the Roman road from Exeter to Lincoln. Exceptional in (a) cutting across the grain of the main road-system radiating from London, and (b) not deviating more than 6 miles either side of its direct line, it has been proposed as a lateral road along an early frontier line. This would be anachronistic, nor did the campaigns of conquest ever stop on this line. It may have been laid out to link the legions at Exeter and Lincoln after the Boudiccan revolt. The modern name derives from fossa, a Latin loan-word into Anglo-Saxon, perhaps used for a raised earthwork. The route is still in use for much of its 250 miles.

Alan Simon Esmonde Cleary

Fosse Way an ancient road in Britain, so called from the fosse or ditch that used to run along each side of it. It ran from Axminster to Lincoln, via Bath and Leicester (about 300 km, 200 miles), and marked the limit of the first stage of the Roman occupation (mid 1st century ad).