John Robert Travis

Coal in Roman Britain John Robert Travis

Coal has often been considered unimportant to the economy of Roman Britain, and not something that was deliberately mined. This study, based on growing archaeological evidence aims to overturn this view. Travis centres his research on Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Lancashire, tracing coal from these coalfields further afield, and finding that, in the case of Yorkshire and Derbyshire it was transported much further than has often been assumed. Lancashire presents a different case, and Travis posits that the coal was used primarily locally in industry controlled by the military.