A RETIRED archaeologist who has shed light on the history of a Roman town is hoping his latest book will prove a hit.

Chester-le-Street and its Place in History unveils fascinating facts on the County Durham town's past, including its bustling river trade and details of forgotten Roman roads and churches.

The town is famous for its Roman heritage, but present inhabitants may be disheartened to learn that, according to author Raymond Selkirk, the soldiers guarding its walls were little more than barbarian mercenaries.

"Chester-le-Street was very important in Roman times, but the troops were a bunch of ruffians," he said.

"They were known as Numerus Concangius - not legionaries or even auxiliary troops. They were third-raters, guarding a supply base."

And he has overturned previous thinking that most Roman supplies came up from the south along Dere Street, the old A1 road.

"They brought them in on giant, ten-tonne barges," he said. "They came right up the River Wear into the fort. One of those coming from Sunderland would be the modern-day military equivalent of a parachute drop by an RAF Hercules."

But the legions did have a big road network in the North-East and Mr Selkirk, 71, thinks he has found some that have lain forgotten for centuries.

"Instead of just one road passing through Chester-le-Street, there are actually six crossing through it," he said.

"One of them starts in Eb-chester and runs to Stanley, then Chester-le-Street and on to Houghton-le-Spring, then Dalton-le-Dale."

He believes the Romans left their mark on the route. "I have called it the Five Churches Road," he said. "There are churches at each of the Roman sites and you can practically draw a straight line from the first to the last.

"St Andrew's, in Stanley, is a relatively new church, but we now think that it was built on the ruins of a Saxon church.

"We also think that, underneath this, there may be the remains of a Roman church.

"All churches called St Andrew's invariably have a Roman connection, because the Augustan mission to convert the Anglo Saxons started in St Andrew's, in Rome."

Chester-le-Street and its Place in History, published by Casdec, is available from book stores, priced £29.95.