hence the road again enters some thick plantations, and for about half a mile can with difficulty be traced; it afterwards runs over cultivated ground, and from thence to the Sunning Hill road is very conspicuous. In the immediate vicinity of the road at this spot there exist great quantities of Roman tiles, bricks, &c, which, from the land having, till within the last three years, been left in an uncultivated state, appear to have escaped observation. This part of the road is therefore deserving of minute inspection. From the Sunning Hill road it crosses some low meadow land, where it can only be discovered with great difficulty; and about a mile further, at its entrance into Windsor Park, it is for some distance totally lost. There is, however, a portion left in excellent condition between that place of entrance and the point where its line of direction cuts Virginia Water; it can also be distinguished in a spot between that portion and the water, where one of the Park rides runs for about 300 yards along it. The old labourers in the Park state, that this part of the ride having never required any repair, they had been led to conclude that it was formed on the surface of some old road. It must be observed that the part of the Virginia Water which is crossed by the direction of the Roman road is artificial, and has been excavated only within the last forty years. From this spot the direction passes through the inn-yard at Virginia Water, and it is said that a foundation of gravel was formerly discovered there. On the brow of the hill above Egham, and in the direction of the road, within the last few months, part of its substratum, the foundations of some buildings, together with a variety of Roman coins and other remains, have been discovered.
The commanding nature of the ground about Egham, joined to the discovery of the remains, and the agreement of the distance from London with that which is stated in the Itinera, seem to point out this place as the site of the ancient Bibracte; while the neighbouring part of the Thames may with equal probability be considered as the place of the station Ad Pontes. A chain of forts appears to have commanded the river between Staines and Chertsey. Three of these, of a square form, still exist near Penton Hook.
Nearly in the continuation of the line from Duke's Hill to Egham lie the remains of the Roman road from London to Staines, which are mentioned by Dr. Stukeley; a portion of it near Ashford, on the Middlesex side of the river, was a few years since distinctly visible, but it is now wholly obliterated.
