Romans and Boudica
First used by ancient Britons and paved by the Romans, Watling Street was one of the main Roman routes across the country. It is the traditional site of the Roman’s defeat of Boudica. The road was later the south-western border between the Danelaw, the part of England ruled by the Danish, and Wessex and Mercia, governed by the Anglo-Saxons.
Suffragette history
In 1913, the street was also one of the main routes featured in The Great Pilgrimage, a march by suffragists campaigning non-violently for women’s right to vote. It was organised by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. Six routes were planned across the country, all converging in London, one of these being the Watling Street route. 50,000 women marched from all across the UK, gathering in Hyde Park on 26 July 1913. LSE and Google Arts and Culture have put together a slide show of images and oral histories from the march.
Summer Solstice
When Milton Keynes was built, the grid structure of the town was tailored and turned to align with Watling Street, meaning that the streets are on an angle, rather than running straight north – south, east – west. It also means the main street in Milton Keynes, is perfectly aligned to the rising of the sun on the summer solstice – exactly like Stonehenge.
Walking Routes
- Walking from Stony Stratford down to the lower outskirts of Whitehouse and then looping around Whitehouse and back northwest through Lower, Middle and Upper Weald, is approximately a 7-mile walk.
- Alternatively, the Redway runs along Watling Street from Stony Stratford to Granby.
