Everything about Watling Street totally explained
Watling Street is the name given to an
ancient trackway in
England and
Wales that was first used by the
Celts mainly between the modern cities of
Canterbury and
St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the
Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad portum Dubris" - from
London to the port of
Dover. The name derives from the
Anglo-Saxon Wæcelinga Stræt, which has come to be understood as the
A2 road from Dover to London, and then the
A5 road from London to
Wroxeter. Originally the word "street" simply meant a paved road (Latin: "via strata"), and didn't have the modern association with populated areas.
History
Roman
A
Roman road known as Iter III went from London to Dover. The last section of the long Iter II route from
Hadrian's Wall travelled through
Viroconium (now
Wroxeter in
Shropshire), past
Letocetum (modern day
Wall),
Manduessedum (modern day
Mancetter - possible site of
Boudica's last
battle),
Venonis (modern day
High Cross),
Bannaventa, Lactodorum (modern day
Towcester - near another possible site of Boudica's last battle)), then through
Stony Stratford and Magiovinium (
Fenny Stratford) in modern day
Milton Keynes, Durocobrivis (modern day
Dunstable),
Verulamium (near modern-day
St Albans in
Hertfordshire) and London (including the modern
Old Kent Road) to
Rutupiae (now
Richborough in
Kent) on the southeast coast of
England. While another section of Iter II linked Wroxeter to
Chester, and other roads went into north
Wales and central Wales, these are not generally considered to be part of Watling Street. Thus the Roman routes which comprise Watling Street are all of Iter III and the middle southern section of Iter II.
Main section
The main section of the road is that from Dover to Wroxeter. It was
named Wæcelinga Stræt by the Anglo-Saxons, literally "the street of the people of Wæcel". Wæcel could possibly be a variation of the Anglo-Saxon word for 'foreigner' which was applied to the
Celtic people inhabiting what is now Wales. This source also gave us the name for
Wæclingacaester (the Anglo-Saxon name for
Verulamium) and it seems likely that the road-name was originally applied first to the section between that town and London before being applied to the entire road.
Subsidiary routes
Stone Street ran south for some 12 miles from Watling Street at
Canterbury (the Roman Durovernum) to
Lympne (Lemanis) at the western edge of the
Romney Marsh. Most of it's now the current
B2068 road that runs from the
M20 motorway to
Canterbury.
Another
Stone Street from Magnae (Kenchester) to
Caerleon.
Battle of Watling Street
Part of the route was the site of the Roman victory at the
Battle of Watling Street in 61 AD between the Roman governor
Gaius Suetonius Paulinus and the
Briton leader
Boudica.
Danelaw
In the
9th century, Watling Street was used as the demarcation line between the Anglo-Saxon and Danish-ruled parts of England. The
Treaty of Wedmore required the defeated Danes to withdraw to an area north and east of Watling Street, thus establishing the
Danelaw.
Pilgrims' Way
Like most of the Roman road network, the Roman paving fell into disrepair when the Romans left Britain, although the route continued to be used for centuries afterwards. It is likely that
Chaucer's pilgrims used Watling Street to travel from
Southwark to
Canterbury in his
Canterbury Tales.
Turnpike
The road north of London became a
Turnpike firstly in
1707 when the section from Fornhill near
Hockliffe to
Stony Stratford was paved following an Act of Parliament on March 4th 1707.
This was the first Turnpike Trust and showed how financially hazardous the undertaking could be.
The Fornhill to Stony Stratford case provides more evidence that Parliament would void undertakers’ rights if they were negligent. The trustees for the Fornhill to Stony Stratford road borrowed more than 7000 pounds in 1707 and 1708 to improve the road. The creditors, however, claim to have been misinformed regarding the expected revenues from the tolls, and requested in 1709 that a new act extend the term and increase the tolls. A new act was passed in 1709 extending the term, but the tolls were not increased. It also included a provision that the creditors could take receivership of the tolls if the trustees hadn't repaid their debts by 1711.
Apparently, the trustees were unable to borrow and the creditors took over the tolls. In 1716,
Parliament tried to clarify the situation by passing an act that vested authority in the trustees from the 1709 act and another group appointed by the Justices of the Peace for Buckinghamshire.
The 1716 act wasn't amended for its entire term of 23 years, but once it was set to expire,
Parliament decided that it wouldn't renew the rights of the existing trustees for the Fornhill to Stony Stratford road. In 1736, the trustees submitted a petition for an extension of their rights, but it failed to pass and in 1739 their authority ended. In 1740, a new act was passed naming a replacement body of trustees. In the petition for the new bill, the inhabitants of Buckinghamshire described the road as being ‘ruined.’ This sentiment was affirmed by the
Member heading the committee for the bill.
The road was re-paved in the early
19th century by
Thomas Telford who brought it back into use as a turnpike road for use by mail coaches bringing mail to and from
Ireland, his road being extended to the port of
Holyhead on the
Isle of Anglesey in
Wales. At this time the section south of London became known as the Great Dover Road. The toll system ended in 1875.
Modern road
Most of the road is still in use today apart from a few sections where it has been diverted. The stretch of the road between London and Dover is today known as the
A2, and the stretch between London and
Shrewsbury is today known as the
A5 (which now continues to
Holyhead). At Blackheath the Roman road's exact path is uncertain: either diverting towards Deptford Bridge like the modern A2, or staying on a straight line through
Greenwich to cross the mouth of Deptford Creek. Through
Milton Keynes, the A5 is diverted onto a new dual-carriageway and Watling Street forms part of the new town's grid system and carries the additional designation
V4. The name of the town of
Wellington, Shropshire, which lies just east of Shrewsbury, is believed to be a corruption of the word 'Watling town' as Watling Street supposedly ran straight through the centre of Wellington.
Continued use of the name along the ancient road
The use of the street name is retained along the ancient road in many places: for instance, to the south east of
Roman London and on into
Kent (including the towns of
Canterbury,
Gillingham,
Rochester,
Gravesend,
Dartford, and
Bexleyheath). Similarly north of London, the name Watling Street still occurs in
Hertfordshire (including
St Albans),
Bedfordshire,
Buckinghamshire (including
Milton Keynes),
Northamptonshire (including
Towcester),
Leicestershire,
Warwickshire (including
Nuneaton),
Staffordshire (including
Cannock,
Wall and
Lichfield),
Shropshire (including in
Church Stretton as the residential Watling St North ans South) and
Gwynedd.
Other Watling Streets
A Watling Street still exists in the
City of London, close to
Mansion House underground station, though this is unlikely to be on the route of the original Roman road which traversed the
River Thames via the first
London Bridge. In Lancashire, Watling Street is the Roman Road through
Affetside which leads from Manchester to
Ribchester.
The Roman Road from
Catterick (
Cataractonium) to
Corbridge (
Corstopitum) and onto the
Antonine Wall also came to be known as Watling Street, with perhaps a similar
Anglo-Saxon etymology owing to its path into the foreign land of
Scotland. This route is also known as
Dere Street. This may also be the case for another Watling Street between
Manchester (
Mancunium) and
Ribchester (
Bremetennacum) which ultimately led to another 'foreign land' in Saxon times, that of
Cumbria.
A Watling Street Road exists to this day in the city of
Preston,
Lancashire. It connects the districts of Ribbleton and
Fulwood and passes the site of Sharoe Green Hospital.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Watling Street'.
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