CELTIC AND ROMANO-BRITISH HERTFORDSHIRE 



east side of the piece of the Roman wall still standing known as Gorhambury 

 Block, and a little north-westward from this point its line can be traced 

 across the fields by a row of trees which formed the boundary of the road 

 which existed till 1833, when it was displaced by the Verulam Road. Its 

 junction with the existing high road to Redbourne on the north-east side 

 of Bow Bridge is still quite distinct. From this point Watling Street 

 follows the line of the existing road through Redbourne towards the hamlet 

 of Markyate Street. Before reaching this hamlet, however, the present road 

 diverges to the west for a mile and a quarter at Friars Wash, forming a loop. 

 The Roman road, however, still exists here as a lane and the two roads 

 re- unite at the point where the boundary between the parishes of Flamstead 

 and Markyate crosses them. Watling Street forms the county boundary 

 between Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire through Markyate and so on till 

 it passes into Bedfordshire. 



Akeman Street seems to have been independent of the general scheme 

 of Roman roads in Britain,'' and possibly existed as a British track before 

 the Roman occupation. It came from Bath through Cirencester and 

 Alchester (near Bicester) to Aylesbury and so possibly through Verulamium 

 to Colchester. It enters the county from Aylesbury in the parish of Tring, 

 where it deflects from its straight course in order to avoid Hastoe Hill. It 

 passes through the town of Tring by Park Road to the lodge of Tring Park. 

 Here its line is lost, but a little further east it approximately followed the 

 line of a footpath in the park, to the lodge on the east side where it meets 

 the main London Road, forming the parish boundary between Tring and 

 Wigginton, and runs in an easterly course to the south lodge of Pendley 

 Park. Here it turns in a south-easterly direction for about half a 

 mile where the present road diverges from the straight course to a point 

 about half a mile north-west of Northchurch. It then follows the line of 

 the present road through Northchurch to Berkhampstead for a short 

 distance, forming the boundary between those parishes. It forms the 

 High Street of Berkhampstead and continues in a fairly straight line to 

 about a quarter of a mile north-west of Bourne End. The present road 

 continues in a south-easterly direction to Watford and eventually joins 

 Watling Street a little north of Edgware. From Bourne End, however, 

 the present road loses all characteristics of a Roman road, and it appears 

 possible that from this point Akeman Street may have taken a direction 

 almost due east which would bring it to the south-west gate of Veru- 

 lamium. 



A road going west or south-west and north-east from Verulamium 

 apparently existed from the evidence probably of the gates of the Roman 

 town and a street between them. It would seem possible that this road 

 connected Akeman Street with Verulamium, as suggested above, and passed 

 on from that town to join Stane Street to Camulodunum. This route must 

 have been of considerable importance as a line of communication between 

 Verulamium and Camulodunum at the time these were the chief towns 

 in southern Britain. When London, however, took their place and 

 became the centre of the road system of Britain the traffic was probably 



»' Camb. Medieval Hist. 1, 376. 



