Glen Shields
A Historical researcher based in East Sussex, with links to Tree-Ring Services.
Contact:
GShields@tree-ring.co.uk
31 Lansdowne Street, Hove, East Sussex
Publications:
Shields, G, 1999 The course of the London to Brighton Roman road south of Burgess Hill, Sussex Archaeological Collections, 137, 81-90. (PDF link)
Abstract: A new course for the London to Brighton Roman road in the Hassocks area and through the Clayton Gap is proposed and described. The existence of an unsuspected Roman Toad passing northward from the Hassocks area towards the ancient iron-working sites at Crawley is suggested, which has implications for a possible Iron Age road in the region, and for the Roman settlement at Ham Farm in Hassocks. The Clayton Gap findings clarify the changes that were made to the London to Brighton stage-coach road there between 1770 and 1818. Some discussion is given of the possible further course of the Roman road from the Clayton Gap to the coast.
Shields, G, 2005 The Roman roads of the Portslade/Aldrington area in relation to a possible Roman port at Copperas Gap, Sussex Archaeological Collections, 143, 135-49.
Abstract: From a re-examination of the possible courses of the London to Brighton Roman road through the South Downs it is concluded that it passed to Copperas Gap, on the Portslade/Aldrington coast. Other proposed Roman roads of the Portslade/ Aldrington area are also found to have probably ended there. The existence of a Roman port at Copperas Gap is therefore suggested, and some evidence in support of this is presented, from the pattern of Roman remains about the Gap, and the apparent significance of the locality in Saxon times. The region's Roman roads generally are discussed in the light of the port’s existence. The question of whether the area might be important for the Saxon conquest of Sussex is raised. Copperas Gap was also found to be the probable site of the recent lost maritime centre of West Aldrington, and a brief account of this is given, including the observation that it could be the place from which Charles II sailed in his escape to France in 1651.
Shields, G, 2010 The Roman roads of the Portslade/Aldrington area in relation to a possible Roman port at Copperas Gap – Additional Notes. (PDF link)
Updated: 02/02/2010