of the turnpike forerunners of the A151. Arthur Young's book on the Lincolnshire economy was published in 1813, while the first Fosdyke bridge was still under construction. He therefore, will have taken the future A151 between Spalding and Fleet Hargate on his journey from Boston to Wisbech. He wrote of it thus: In the Hundred of Skirbeck to Boston, and thence to Wisbeach, [turnpike roads] are generally made with silt, or old sea-sand, deposited under various parts of the country ages ago, and when moderately wet are very good; but dreadfully dusty and heavy in dry weather; and also on a thaw they are like mortar. Take the county in general, and they must be esteemed below par. What he is saying is that the turnpike roads in the Townlands were made of the same marine silt as forms the land itself in that part of the country. The heaviness in dry weather to which he refers, arose from the loose, deep, sandy surface through which wheels would have to be dragged. According to Wheeler, of silt was reckoned to cover in a length of a road, thick and wide, the silt costing about 8d. to 10d. per ton for digging and spreading. In some cases the road was turned over. That is a pit was dug in the road until the silt was reached then that was dug out and formed into the carriageway. The surface of the next length was dug and put into the pit as a foundation then the silt dug and placed on top of it and so on along the road. Gravel was used where obtainable and from about 1870, Wheeler introduced granite. By the end of the 20th century granite and slag were being consolidated by steam roller Of the Bourne to Colsterworth road, Young said we were every moment either buried in quagmires of mud or racked to dislocation over pieces of rock which they term mending. Materials and methods for repairing fenland roads are described by Wheeler. The best material available was dug locally from pits. The Terrain When roads are built by engineers with capital to support their work, they are successfully able to build roads across difficult soils. Modern road builders have less need to seek out easy geological conditions. When roads were made not by civil engineers but by people walking on the ground, the road followed the