Akeman Street Kirtlington also uses its course. Other parts are in use as public footpaths, including a stretch between Tackley and Stonesfield that is part of the Oxfordshire Way. The origins of the road's name are uncertain but certainly date back to the Early Middle Ages. Some have suggested that "Akeman" derives from the Anglo-Saxon words for "oak-man". Others have suggested a connection with Bath, which the Anglo-Saxons called "Acemannesceastre" ("Acemannes" apparently being derived from the Roman name Aquae Sulis). It is unclear how this might have become associated with the road, but one possibility is that the name was originally used
Roman Baths (Bath) legend was given great prominence as a royal endorsement of the waters' qualities, with the embellishment that the spring had cured Bladud and his herd of pigs of leprosy through wallowing in the warm mud. The name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion, leading to the town's Roman name of "Aquae Sulis" ("the waters of Sulis"). The temple was constructed in 60–70 AD and the bathing complex was gradually built up over the next 300 years. During the Roman occupation of Britain, and possibly on the instructions of Emperor Claudius, engineers drove oak piles to provide a