Famously, Brits have the Romans to thank for introducing the first roads.
And now it seems we may also have the ancient civilization to thank for pioneering service stations.
Archaeologists have discovered the foundations of a Roman ‘service station’ by the A147 in the Cotswolds, about five miles south of Cheltenham.
Nearly 2,000 years ago, the building would have been next to Ermin Street, the ancient Roman road linking Cirencester and Gloucester.
Likely in service between the second and fourth centuries AD, travellers and their horses would have rested there during long journeys.
Remains of primitive Roman ovens also suggest guests had fast food prepared for them during a stopover – possibly bread, meat and even snails.
The Romans would have called it a mutatio, meaning ‘change’, the Latin term for a horse-changing station.
The astonishing settlement, uncovered by Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, is featured in the newest episode of Digging for Britain on BBC Two.
Your browser does not support iframes.
The Roman service station, located near the A417’s Air Balloon roundabout, about five miles south of Cheltenham, is the subject of BBC Two’s Digging for Britain
Pictured, the old Roman road of Ermin Way. Roman roads allowed the rapid movement of troops and military supplies but were also used for general trade and transport
The dig, conducted between 2023 and 2024, covered 40 hectares near the A417’s Air Balloon roundabout, about five miles south of Cheltenham.
Excavations are part of the A417 Missing Link scheme, which aims to relieve congestion around the Gloucester area with new and reconfigured roads.
Experts think the Roman service station, which covered nearly eight hectares, helped serve the passing trade on Ermin Way, a busy Roman highway.
Ermin Way linked many large Roman towns, like Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum), Cirencester and Gloucester, which was an important military centre for the Romans.
It follows the discovery of another Roman ‘service station’ in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire.
Alex Thompson, project manager at Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, said the discovery of the Cotswolds Roman service station ‘exceeded all expectations’.
‘The Romans can claim credit for lots of things, and they probably invented the formal idea of a “service station”, at least in Europe,’ he told MailOnline.
‘These are sometimes referred to as “mutatio” (the Latin term for a horse-changing station), and these were often at organised locations at regular intervals along Roman roads.’
During 2023 and 2024, the team undertook excavations across over 40 hectare of the A417 Missing Link Scheme between Crowley and Brockworth via the Air Balloon Roundabout
Drone view of workers at the remains of the building, which exists as the foundations. It would have comprised two rooms – one for human travellers and one for horses
Drone view of the site and Ermin Way, the old Roman road, much of which is now covered by the modern A417, A419 and B4000 roads
Remains of one of the ovens. Visitors likely ate bread at the site, while animals bones suggest meat was also on the menu
Britain was part of the Roman Empire for nearly four centuries, from the invasion under emperor Claudius in AD 43 until the early 5th century. Pictured, fragment of a brooch at the site
Mr Thompson added: ‘We think that our settlement was being used to help with people that were travelling along the road and probably something to do with horses.
‘[It] may have been used as stabling or potentially as somewhere where you could stay the night and have your horse looked after.’
The ‘simple’ and ‘compact’ building comprised just two rooms – one for human travellers and one for horses – plus an outside yard.
Experts came to this conclusion because one room contained evidence of equine care, including harnesses and bridles, while the other had personal effects and the remains of ovens, as well as a quernstone, used for producing flour.
‘Given that we identified numerous ovens both for cooking and crop processing, plus several examples of quern stones used for grinding cereals, it’s likely that bread would have been a staple offering,’ Mr Thomson told MailOnline.
‘Ongoing environmental analysis may give us further information on the crops that were being grown in the area, plus analysis of the recovered animal bone assemblage will pick up any evidence of butchery.’
The personal items found at the site and already displayed at Gloucester Guildhall include a cupid figurine, measuring about 2 inches tall and cast in copper-alloy.
‘Cupid has short, stubby wings on his back and is shown nude, with a chubby face and hair in ringlets, and what looks to be a topknot,’ said Ed McSloy, Cotswold Archaeology’s finds manager.
This image shows four different angles of the Roman cupid figurine already uncovered at the site, measuring about 2 inches tall and cast in copper-alloy
There’s also a Roman nail clipper made of copper alloy and bone (pictured), plus 460 Roman coins, 15 brooches, 420kg of pottery and animal bone
This Roman bronze ring with glass setting found at the Cotswold site dates from the third or fourth century AD
This ‘radiate’ coin depicts the Roman commander and emperor Postumus who reined from about AD 259–268
Pictured, a stunning Roman blue glass bead with white wave decoration found at the site
Pictured, a Roman penannular brooch – meaning in the form of an incomplete circle or ring
‘He is standing with his right arm raised and holding an object identified as a torch, or possibly a club.
‘Originally, he may have also held something in his left hand, but whatever this was seems to have been moulded separately and is now lost.’
There’s also a Roman nail clipper made of copper alloy and bone, plus 460 Roman coins, 15 brooches, 420kg of pottery and animal bone.
The Roman service station featured in Wednesday’s episode of Digging for Britain, hosted by Professor Alice Roberts, now on BBC iPlayer.
Following the episode, the finds will be catalogued, before going on display in local museums to ‘help further local knowledge of the area’s history’.
Gloucestershire was at the forefront of Roman expansion into Britain following their invasion under emperor Claudius in AD 43.
The Romans quickly built a network of roads to help spread their influence across the south of England, establishing large settlements at Cirencester, which known by the Romans as ‘Corinium Dobunnorum’ and Gloucester (‘Glevum’).
While Gloucester was an important military centre, Cirencester was Britain’s second-largest Roman settlement, after London.
Cirencester had its own Roman amphitheatre, built in the early second century, which now only exists as a depression in the land, covered in grass.
