A RETIRED archaeologist claims all roads led to Chester-le-Street in Roman times - after finding six ancient routes into the town.

Author, pilot and archaeologist Raymond Selkirk has been researching the Roman origins of the region with the Northern Archaeology Group and discovered Chester-le-Street was the Roman equivalent of a spaghetti junction, where roads from across the region converged.

Mr Selkirk has already written a book on the town's Roman origins entitled Chester-le-Street and its Place in History, in which he claims Chester-le-Street was a supply base guarded by Numerus Concangius - troops who were little more than barbarian mercenaries, ranked below legionaries or even auxiliary troops.

Mr Selkirk said: "As far as Chester-le-Street is concerned, instead of one Roman road through the place, there's six. The road everyone thinks of is Dr Cabes road, which came from Newcastle, down through Chester-le-Street and then to Shincliffe and further south, but there's roads from across the region."

His latest findings are the result of months of work by his archaeology group, a group of doctors, police, divers, pilots and even an atomic scientist who carry out archaeological digs and research the subject in their spare time.

Mr Selkirk uses research and aerial reconnaissance to potential sites and then the group excavates the area with the permission of the landowner.

He has also challenged conventional thinking that Roman supplies came up from the south along Dere Street, the old A1 road.

He says many of the roads on gradients were only 4ft wide, narrower than the average axle of an ox cart, and they often climbed gradients as steep as 1:3, which would require 100 oxen to carry half a tonne of goods.

He suggests the roads were just for marching troops and supplies were transported on barges up the River Wear. His group have even found a Roman dam at Sunderland, built to keep the River Wear at full tide all the way to Chester-le-Street.

Mr Selkirk said: "In 1860 the Roman dam was taken to bits. We've found about 2,000 tonnes of stones used at Roker and Sunderland harbour as sea defences. These stones have 'lewis' holes for bring lifted with Roman cranes and other Roman markings and they were quarried from Hilton Quarry, where the dam was."