Stane Street (Chichester) - Posting Stations

Posting Stations

There are two known posting stations or mansiones along Stane Street, where official messengers could change horses and travellers could rest. These are at Alfoldean and Hardham. Mansiones were normally rectangular fortified sites of about 1 hectare (2.5 acres). The station at Alfoldean has been excavated. The Alfoldean site is just south of the River Arun and partly covered by the A29 road. It was excavated by the Channel 4 Time Team, revealing the remains of a two storey mansio built around a courtyard and also many other buildings. The site was enclosed by massive ramparts and ditches four metres wide and as deep which were dated by pottery finds to around 90 AD. The ditches were filled in by the mid-third century. The team's view was that the site had been an administrative and taxation centre for the Wealden iron industry. The western side of the Hardham station was destroyed by construction of the Pulborough to Midhurst railway, but most of it, including the north and south gateways, remains.

Two further stations at Merton Priory and Dorking have been postulated as being at suitable intervals, though the sites would now be hidden under modern development. Alternative sites for the posting stations have also been suggested at Ewell and Burford Bridge (where the road crossed the River Mole).