ROMANO-BRITISH STAFFORDSHIRE 



Wroxeter. Its course is definite almost throughout its length, being used at 

 the present day as one of the main highways across England. After leaving 

 Viroconium (Wroxeter) it runs to Uxacona (probably Oakengates in Shrop- 

 shire), eleven Roman miles; thence to Pennocrucium (which has been identified 

 with Stretton where the road crosses the River Penk), a distance of twelve 

 Roman miles, which corresponds approximately with the actual distance. 

 The next station from Pennocrucium is Letocetum or Etocetum (Wall), 

 according to the itinerary a distance of twelve Roman miles, which, if the 

 identification of Pennocrucium with Stretton is correct, is too short, the 

 actual distance being about thirteen and a quarter English miles or fifteen 

 Roman miles. A little to the east of Wall Wading Street crosses Rycknield 

 Street. From Letocetum the road runs to Manduessedum (Mancetter in War- 

 wickshire), and so on in a south-easterly direction. Throughout its course in 

 Staffordshire Wading Street runs from point to point in straight lines ; that is 

 to say from Oakengates to Gailey, 2 miles east of Stretton, it runs almost due 

 east and west. From Gailey it turns slightly southward to Wyrley Common 

 and Knaves Castle, and then again turns almost due east and west to Wall. At 

 this point its course is not quite certain, the existing road called Watling Street 

 from the south-east joins the Rycknield Street about three-quarters of a mile 

 south of Wall, but apparently the Roman road turned in a south-easterly 

 direction a quarter of a mile east of Wall, following the line of an existing 

 footpath, and joined the present road at Lawton Grange, continuing in a 

 straight line to Hints. It there takes another turn in a slightly less southerly 

 direction to the county boundary at Fazeley. 1 On the 25-in. Ordnance map 

 the position of a stone to the south-east of Wall is marked which is supposed 

 to indicate the intersection of Watling Street and Rycknield Street. 



2. Rycknield or Icknield Street. This road starts from the Fosse at 

 Bourton-on-the- Water in Gloucestershire, running through Alcester and 

 Birmingham, where it enters what is now the county of Stafford. Its 

 course in this county does not exist as a modern road to the south of Kettle 

 House in Perry. From this point it runs for approximately four miles in 

 an almost straight line to the park of Little Aston Hall, and for about two 

 miles of this distance it forms the county boundary. A piece of it, about a 

 quarter of a mile in length, is found slightly to the north at Little Aston, 

 where again it is lost till another small portion of it is apparent at Shenstone 

 in a short straight piece of road about half a mile in length, running from 

 the Waterworks northward towards Chesterfield. Here again it is lost, but 

 it probably crossed Watling Street at the point where the site of a stone before 

 referred to is shown on the Ordnance maps, and thence in a straight line to 

 Knowle Farm, where it changes its direction a little to the east, and continues 

 in a straight line to Branston, where its course is again lost for about two and a 

 half miles. It is, however, found again to the north of Burton-on-Trent, 

 whence it runs in the same straight line to the county boundary, crossing the 

 River Dove at Monks Bridge and keeping a direct course to Derby. At 

 Wichnor Bridges the road was formed on piles over the marshy meadows, and 

 when in 1795 these bridges were destroyed by a flood the road was washed 

 away, leaving the piles exposed. 2 It is of course not wholly certain that these 



1 Codrington, Rom. Roads in Britain, 75-6 ; Pitt, Hist. Staffs, i, 3. 



1 Stebbing Shaw, Hist. Staffs. \, 1 8, 125 ; Pennant, Journey from Chester to London, 121-3. 



187 



