Watling Street
Watling Street was a Roman road which went from Dover on the southeast coast of England and is generally believed to have terminated at Viroconium (now Wroxeter in Shropshire), although it may have continued to Chester and possibly into Wales.
It went via London, Verulamium, and the English Midlands. The road was an important part of the road network that the Romans constructed during their occupation of Britain. It was named Wæcelinga Stræt by the Anglo-Saxons during the Dark Ages, literally "the street of the people of Wæcel". It is not known who Wæcel was, but he also gave his name to Wæclingacaester (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.
The Treaty of Wedmore required the defeated Danes to withdraw to an area north and east of Watling Street, thus establishing the Danelaw.
Like most of the Roman road network, Watling Street north of London fell into disrepair when the Romans left Britain. It is likely that Chaucer's pilgrims used Watling Street to travel from Southwark to Canterbury in his Canterbury Tales.
It was brought back into use in the early 19th century by Thomas Telford as a tollpike road for use by mail coaches bringing mail to and from Ireland, his road being extended to Holyhead in Wales.
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), although some of the original route near London has become part of the M1 motorway.
A Watling Street still exists in the City of London, close to Mansion House tube 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. Nuneaton, Cannock, Dartford, Gravesend, Rochester, Gillingham, Canterbury and St Albans have Watling Street still under its own name.
See also
External Link
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