Watling Street

• Watling Street was an important Roman Road that started at Richborough in Kent and continued via London to Wroxeter.
• The modern A2 follows the Roman road from Dover to London. The modern A5 follows the Roman road from London to Wroxeter, but deviates from it to go through Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

History

• The total length from Richborough to Wroxeter was 230 miles (370 km).
• The road crossed three main rivers, the Medway, the Thames and the Avon.

Antonine Itinerary

• Iter II of the Itinerary lists the sites along a route from Richborough to Hadrian's Wall via Wroxeter, Chester and York.
• However, most Historians consider Wroxeter to be the end of Watling Street.
• From Wroxeter, one section went north to Holyhead via the Fortress at Chester, and another south to the Fortress at Caerleon, so that all three British Legions, Hadrian’s Wall, London and the English Channel were connected by one Road system based on Watling Street.

The Route

• Richborough (Rutupiae)
• Dover (Dubris)
• Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiocorum).
  • Junction here with:
  • Lympne (Portus Lemanis)
  • Richborough (Rutupiae)
  • Dover
  • Reculver
• Rochester (Durobrivae Cantiacorum)
  • It had a wooden Roman Bridge over the Medway.
  • Junction with:
  • Hastings via Maidstone
• Springhead (Vagniacis?)
• Crayford (Noviomagus)

• London (Londinium)

  • It is thought to have crossed the Thames at a ford, possibly paved, between Lambeth and Westminster.
  • It then continued in a dead straight line up the Edgeware Road to Edgeware (A5).
• Edgeware (Sulloniacis)
• St. Albans (Verulamium)
• Dunstable (Durocobrivis)
• Fenny Stratford (Magiovinium)
• Towcester (Lactodurum)
• Norton (Bannaventa) near Daventry
• Tripontium
  • Bridge crossing over the River Avon.
• High Cross (Venonis)
  • Junction with the Fosse Way
• Mancetter (Manduessedum)
• Wall (Letocetum)
  • Junction with Icknield Street
• Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum)

Northern Branch

• Chester: Fortress of the Legio XX Valeria Victrix
  • Then on to Caernarfon and the Caer Gibi Roman Fort at Holyhead.

Southern Branch

• Kenchester (Magnis) and Caerleon (Isca Silurum)
  • Fortress of the Legio II Augusta.

Watling Street was the Main Route into Britannia

• A Ferry journey was taken across the ‘Fretum Gallicum’, the Straits of Dover, between the Fortress of Boulogne in Gallia Belgica and the fortress of  Richborough, near Sandwich. Both Ports were controlled by the Roman Navy in Britain, the Classis Britannica.
• At Richborough, entry into Britannia was through a Triumphal Arch inside the Fortress, and the journey then continued via Watling Street (the A2) up to London and on to Wales.

Battle of Watling Street

• In 60-61 CE, the Battle of Watling Street during Boudicca's Revolt took place along Watling Street, somewhere between Wroxeter and London.
• A historic stand was made by the Legio XIV Gemina who successfully defeated Queen Boudicca’s army of 80,000 men.

A Trunk road for the British Legions to the Continent

• In 71 CE, the Legio XIV Gemina who had been based in Wroxeter are recorded as marching along the Via Belgica when they left Britannia to reach Germania Inferior during the Batavian Revolt.

• They almost certainly used Watling Street to reach Richborough before sailing to Boulogne, which was the channel port for the Via Belgica, running from Boulogne to Cologne.

The Saxon Period

• In 878 CE Alfred the Great defeated Guthrum, the King of the Danish Vikings in the Danelaw.
• In the Peace Treaty that followed, Watling Street was made the Frontier between Viking Danelaw and the Saxon Kingdoms.

Roman Roads in Britain

• Roman Roads of Britannia

The Edgeware Road, London (Watling Street)