The Portway was a Roman road

Roman road

The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

 running from London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to Weymouth, via Silchester

Silchester

Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading....

 (Calleva Atrebatum), Old Sarum

Old Sarum

Old Sarum is the site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury, in England. The site contains evidence of human habitation as early as 3000 BC. Old Sarum is mentioned in some of the earliest records in the country...

 (Sorviodunum) and Dorchester (Durnovaria).

Several place names on the route have the suffix -cester or -chester, which is from the Latin castra meaning military camp.

The road can still be found in many places; one section that can be walked is between Gussage All Saints

Gussage All Saints

Gussage All Saints is a village in Dorset, England situated 8 miles north east of Blandford.The Ecclesiastical Parish of Gussage All Saints since 2001, is one of ten Ecclesiastical Parishes which form ‘The Chase Benefice’ under its first incumbent the Reverend Dr Michael Foster...

 and Badbury Rings

Badbury Rings

Badbury Rings is an Iron Age hill fort in east Dorset, England, dating from 800 BC and in use until the Roman occupation of 43 AD.-Iron Age:...

. The A354

A354 road

The A354 is a primary route in England which runs from Salisbury in Wiltshire to Easton on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, a total distance of . From Salisbury the road crosses Cranborne Chase and briefly merges with the A350 at the Blandford Forum bypass before crossing the Dorset Downs and...

 at Sixpenny Handley

Sixpenny Handley

Sixpenny Handley is a village and civil parish in north east Dorset, England, situated on Cranborne Chase ten miles north east of Blandford Forum...

, Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

runs along its course for a short distance.

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