Towards Pennocrucium

I was wrong yesterday to suggest that the stone which had stood at the Watling/Icknield crossroads was a later monument, like that at High Cross. Walking on a little further in Wall today, I read the information board in English Heritage's car park: it really was a Roman milestone.

Another old sign was at the Rising Sun: what was said to be England's oldest finger-post, dated 1777, or rather a replica of it. The Rising Sun itself appears here on old maps, and now gives its name to the junction. There's still a building, but this sun has not risen for some years.

Just after the junction and then a railway bridge, the road changes direction: unusually, not being a summit, valley bottom, or junction. Harper, author of The Holyhead Road (1902), reckoned there was another mile of road continuing onwards on the old alignment. This, he says, is evidence that the road had been built from both directions at the same time. A mistake in surveying led to them joining up at the point where the direction changes, the little section which had gone past that point then being abandoned.

One of my aims for today was to see if I could find this bit. There's a footpath in this general direction at first. Here the line of continuation is marked by a line of trees forming a field boundary: promising at first as a roadway might be a convenient ownership boundary, later acquiring a hedge or fence. As far as I could see, the ground under the trees was a single narrow (hedge-width) ridge, which was not so suggestive of a road. Going further on, the other side of a canal, the line is followed by Gorsey Lane.  This fitted my expectation of a Roman Road: straight, a little wider than usual for a country lane, ditches either side. Then I realised that none of the Watling Street I've seen on this walk has looked much like that, so maybe it's my expectations that are wrong.

Still, I was satisfied that I had found what Harper described, if not persuaded of his explanation.

As well as looking out for old buildings and structures connected with the road, I'm also interested in the modern usage which reflects and celebrates the history. I'm noting the 'street' placenames like Stretton and Streetway, which have a long provenance. The modern street name and postal address for a good proportion of this road is still Watling Street, and I'm also noting several uses of Watling in house and business names.

Earlier in the walk, I had called in at the Roman Way Garden Centre. This evening I am at the Roman Way Hotel. I haven't blogged about where I have eaten or stayed before, because generally these were chosen for practical support of the journey: where they were, not how they were. In the case of this hotel, I wanted to come here because, unlike, say, the garden centre, it celebrates the Roman theme in more than just the name. There is classical inspired architecture, exterior and interior decoration - although the hotel fare generally is fairly standard. It dates to 1990 - MCMXC as a mosaic at reception declares - and has seen better days. Still, I'm impressed they make the effort.