Watling Street
Watling Street is a route in England that began as an ancient trackway first used by the Britons, mainly between the areas of modern Canterbury and using a natural ford near Westminster. The Romans later paved the route, which then connected the Kentish ports of Dubris, Rutupiae, Lemanis, and Regulbium to their bridge over the Thames at Londinium. The route continued northwest through Verulamium on its way to Viroconium. The Romans considered the continuation on to Blatobulgium beyond Hadrian's Wall to be part of the same route, leading some scholars to call this Watling Street as well, although others restrict it to the southern leg.
Watling Street was the traditional site of Boudica's defeat by the Romans and was later the southwestern border of the Danelaw. In the early 19th century, the course between London and the Channel was paved and became known as the Great Dover Road: today, the route from Dover to London forms part of the A2 road. The route from London to Wroxeter forms much of the A5 road. At various points along the historic route, the name Watling Street remains in modern use.
Name
The original Celtic and Roman name for the road is unknown and the Romans may not have viewed it as a single path at all, dividing it amongst two separate itineraries in one 2nd-century list. The modern name instead derives from the Old English Wæcelinga Stræt, from a time when "street" referred to any paved road and had no particular association with urban thoroughfares. The Waeclingas were a tribe in the St Albans area in the early medieval period with an early name of the city being "Waetlingacaester", which would translate into modern English as "Watlingchester".The original Anglo-Saxon name for the section of the route between Canterbury and London was Casingc Stræt or Key Street, a name still borne by a hamlet on the road near Sittingbourne. This section only later became considered part of Watling Street.
Used as a boundary
Watling Street has been used as a boundary of many historic administrative units, and some of these are still in existence today, either through continuity or the adoption of these as by successor areas.Examples include:
- Watling Street was used as a boundary in the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum and it is often inferred that this made the road the SW boundary of the Danelaw
- It is the boundary of Leicestershire and Warwickshire, this may be a legacy of the treaty described above.
- Watling Street forms part of the boundary of four London Boroughs and is sometimes described as the boundary of West and North London.
History
British
The broad, grassy trackway found by the Romans had already been used by the Britons for centuries. The main path led from Richborough on the English Channel to a natural ford in the Thames at Thorney Island near Westminster to a site near Wroxeter, where it split. The western continuation went on to Holyhead while the northern ran to Chester and on to the Picts in Scotland.Westminster Natural Ford
There is a longstanding tradition that a natural ford once crossed the Thames between Thorney Island and the Lambeth/Wandsworth boundary. Its location means that it is possible that Watling Street crossed it.Several factors may have slowed the river here, leading to the deposition of sufficient sedimentary material to allow fording:
- The bend in the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge.
- The two arms of the River Effra joining in that vicinity, depositing their own load, with the athwart flow causing the Thames to eddy and slow.
- Similarly the southern arm of the Tyburn, once joined in this point, on the northern bank.
- These factors mean the area is likely to have been the tidal head for some of the historic period.
Roman
The 2nd-century Antonine Itinerary gives the course of Watling Street from "Urioconium" to "Portus Ritupis" as a part of its Second Route, which runs for 501 MP from Hadrian's Wall to Richborough:
Battle
Some site in the middle section of this route is supposed by most historians to have been the location of G. Suetonius Paulinus's decisive victory over Boudica's Iceni in AD 61.Subsidiary routes
The two routes of the Antonine Itinerary immediately following list the stations from Londinium to "Portus Dubris" and to "Portus Lemanis" at the north eastern edge of the Romney Marsh, suggesting that they may have been considered interchangeable terminuses. They only differ in the distance to Durovernum: 14 and 17 Roman miles, respectively. The route to Lemanis was sometimes distinguished by the name ; it now forms most of the B2068 road that runs from the M20 motorway to Canterbury. The route between Durovernum and the fortress and port at Regulbium on Kent's northern shore is not given in these itineraries but was also paved and is sometimes taken as a fourth terminus for Watling Street. The Sixth Route also recorded an alternate path stopping at Tripontium between Venonis and Bannaventa ; it is listed as taking 24 Roman miles rather than 17.The more direct route north from Londinium to Eboracum was Ermine Street. The stations between Eboracum and Cataractonium were shared with Dere Street, which then branched off to the northeast. Durocobrivis was the site of the path's intersection with the Icknield Way. The Maiden Way ran from Bravoniacum to the lead and silver mines at Epiacum and on to Hadrian's Wall.
Saxon
By the time of the Saxon invasions, the Roman bridge across the Thames had presumably fallen into disrepair or been destroyed. The Saxons abandoned the walled Roman site in favour of Lundenwic to its west, presumably because of its more convenient access to the ford on the Thames. They did not return to Lundenburh until forced to do so by the Vikings in the late 9th century. Over time, the graveling and paving itself fell into disrepair, although the road's course continued to be used in many places as a public right of way. "Watlingestrate" was one of the four roads protected by the king's peace in the Laws of Edward the Confessor.A number of Old English names testify to route of Watling Street at this time: Boughton Street in Kent; Colney Street in Hertfordshire; Fenny Stratford and Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire; Old Stratford in Northamptonshire; Stretton under Fosse and Stretton Baskerville in Warwickshire..
Viking
Following the Viking invasions, the 9th-century Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum mentions Watling Street as a boundary.past Newgate
Norman
It is assumed that the pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales used the southeastern stretch of Watling Street when journeying from Southwark to Canterbury.Modernity
The first turnpike trust in England was established over Watling Street northwest of London by an Act of Parliament on 4 March 1707 in order to provide a return on the investment required to once more pave the road. The section from Fourne Hill north of Hockliffe to Stony Stratford was paved at a cost of £7000 over the next two years. Revenue was below expectations; in 1709, the trust succeeded in getting a new act extending the term of their monopoly but not permitting their tolls to be increased. In 1711, the trust's debts had not been discharged and the creditors took over receivership of the tolls. In 1716, a new act restored the authority of the trust under the supervision of another group appointed by the Buckinghamshire justices of the peace. The trust failed to receive a further extension of their rights in 1736 and their authority ended at the close of 1738. In 1740, a new act named new trustees to oversee the road, which the residents of Buckinghamshire described as being "ruined".The road was again paved in the early 19th century at the expense of Thomas Telford. He operated it as a turnpike road for mail coaches from Ireland. To this purpose, he extended it to the port of Holyhead on Anglesey in Wales. During this time, the section southeast of London became known as the Great Dover Road. The tolls ended in 1875.
Much of the road is still in use today, apart from a few sections where it has been diverted. The A2 road between Dover and London runs over or parallel to the old path. A section of Watling Street still exists in the City of London close to Mansion House underground station on the route of the original Roman road which traversed the River Thames via the first London Bridge and ran through the City in a straight line from London Bridge to Newgate. The sections of the road in Central London possess a variety of names, including Edgware Road and Maida Vale. At Blackheath, the Roman road ran along Old Dover Road, turning and running through the area of present-day Greenwich Park to a location perhaps a little north of the current Deptford Bridge. The stretch between London and Shrewsbury is known as the A5. Through Milton Keynes, the A5 is diverted onto a new dual carriageway while Watling Street proper remains and forms part of the Milton Keynes grid road system.
The name Watling Street is still used along the ancient road in many places, for instance in Bexleyheath in southeast London and in Canterbury, Gillingham, Strood, Gravesend, and Dartford in Kent. A major road joining the A5 in northwest London is called Watling Avenue. North of London, the name Watling Street still occurs in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, and even Gwynedd in north Wales.