This volume ultimately derives from two Cadw grant-aided programmes — one on Roman Fort Environs, the other on Roman Roads — which were undertaken on a pan-Wales basis by the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts. Brief synopses for all the roads were included in the relevant chapters of the Roman Frontiers in Wales and the Marches (RCAHMW, 2010), but space there was such as to prevent a detailed assessment of the evidence for each route. In this book Hopewell takes the opportunity to remedy this, at least for north-west Wales, by presenting the material in an easily accessible and attractive format, drawing on a wide range of evidence derived from LIDAR, geophysics, fieldwork and excavation.

The first part of the volume (1–19) is taken up with introductory material about the Romans in Wales and the north-west, the archaeology of roads and previous research, the Roman surveyors, and other old roads, the latter rehearsing areas of potential confusion with roads and tracks of different dates. In the process H. describes a number of specific features which can be seen to be diagnostic of a Roman road (form, surface, width, quarry pits and route (11)). The bulk of the volume, however, is taken up with a road-by-road gazetteer (21–82), preceded by a brief introduction to the Roman Roads Project. Each road is discussed in appropriate detail, with an overview of previous research followed by a presentation of such evidence as is currently available, set against the criteria already established. The whole is profusely illustrated throughout, both with a range of black-and-white and colour photographs, and a series of strip maps which provide details of the surviving lengths for each route; four small-scale maps also serve to set the roads in question within the wider network of forts and the prevailing terrain. At the end there is a short conclusion which outlines future research priorities (83–4).

This is a well-written account of an extensive and systematic survey which will be of use both for a general readership and for the wider academic audience. It sets out clearly what we now know for certain about the road network of north-west Wales, while at the same time identifying where the evidence is either lacking or does not conform to the criteria already established. In the process it emphasises that if we assume a total road network of c. 280 km, then we can only be reasonably confident about the line of half the roads (i.e. 35 km from ‘definite’ surviving remains and a further 104 km from some ‘proposed’, but less certain, traces) — ‘the rest are practically unknown or exist only as hypothetical lines joining pairs of forts’ (20). This is a salutary reminder of the gaps in our knowledge, given the efforts which have been expended both in the past and as part of the Roman Roads Project. The volume also reinforces the growing potential of LIDAR survey for the recovery of new data, with the prospect of new discoveries in the future.

This volume provides an excellent vehicle for publishing the results of the Gwynedd section of the Roman Roads Project. One can but hope that it will act as a suitable spur to the other three Welsh Trusts to publish their respective areas in a similar format, so that a comprehensive picture can emerge of the current state of play across the Principality as a whole.