Fosse Way Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road in England that linked Exeter ("Isca Dumnoniorum") in South West England to Lincoln ("Lindum Colonia") in Lincolnshire, via Ilchester ("Lindinis"), Bath ("Aquae Sulis"), Cirencester ("Corinium") and Leicester ("Ratae Corieltauvorum"). It joined Akeman Street and Ermin Way at Cirencester, crossed Watling Street at "Venonis" (High Cross) south of Leicester, and joined Ermine Street at Lincoln. The word "Fosse" is derived from the Latin "fossa", meaning "ditch". For the first few decades after the Roman invasion of Britain in CE 43, the Fosse Way marked the western frontier of Roman rule in Iron
Isca Augusta and timber ramparts of the fortress were strengthened by the addition of a stone revetment at the front. This "composite" rampart consisted of a stone wall 5 to 5½ feet thick, backed by a clay bank and fronted by a single ditch By 120 AD, detachments or vexillations of the legion were needed elsewhere in the province and Isca became more of a military base than a garrison. However, it is thought that each cohort still maintained a presence at the fortress. When Septimius Severus seized power in the 190s, he had Isca refurbished and the legion were in residence