Two millennia ago, this mutatio provided a place for travellers to rest or change their weary horses.
At Gloucester services on a motorway in south west England, motorists routinely stop to refuel and take a break from their journey. Just a few miles east, archaeologists are completing a two-year project that has unearthed a forerunner of the site, a 2,000-year-old Roman take on the service station.
Essentially, it's a very early precursor to the modern day stop for a pre-packed sandwich and overpriced coffee and, instead of charging or refuelling a car today, Romans would have swapped their horses for fresh mounts before journeying further.
The Roman version, a mutatio - or horse-changing station - would have provided respite for travellers on the Ermin Street road, which linked Gloucester and Cirencester in Gloucestershire and Silchester in Hampshire.
Finds in and around the mutatio - which somewhat ironically has been excavated to make way for a major new link road - include hundreds of Roman coins, brooches, animal bones and the remains of ovens, spread across the 20 acre site (8 hectares).
“Cirencester was the second-largest Roman settlement outside of London in Britain. And Gloucester was a very important centre for the military. They may have been servicing passing legions as they marched along the road,” Alex Thomson, the project manager for Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, told The Guardian.
“Being able to look at a Roman roadside settlement in such extensive detail is a rare opportunity. It’s clear that the structures we’ve recorded helped serve the passing trade on a busy Roman highway."