The Roman Road from Great Dunmow to London

Margary Number: 30

Distance: 35 miles

A very direct Roman road that we will follow to the Greater London boundary but its destination was of course Londinium.

Historic Counties: Essex

Current Counties: Essex

HER: Essex

Lidar Image - Full Route

No major obstacles to prevent the Roman adopting a straight alignment.

Lidar Image - Great Dunmow Roman Settlement

The Settlement area is shaded in yellow and is taken from Wickenden. However our road to London I have shown in a different location based on Lidar and old mapping. It is a more logical route too.

Ref: Excavations at Great Dunmow, Essex: a Romano-British small town in the Trinovantian Civitas, N.P. Wickenden, EAA 41 (1988)

Lidar Image and Route Map 1

A mile south of Great Dunmow that straight alignment begins.

High Roding

Nice and straight through High Roding giving the game away that this is a Roman Road.

Lidar Image and Route Map 2

Passing through the Rodings it makes a subtle change of direction.

Approaching Black Cat

The road to London is now just a narrow country lane. The agger is wider though giving a clue to its Roman origins. We are between Cobbler's pieces and Black Cat here.

Lidar Image and Route Map 3

At Moreton there is a little dog-leg for the river crossing and another a few miles further on.

Moreton Bridge

The Roman bridge site and the modern bridge most likely coincide just south of Moreton over the Cripsey Brook.

Lidar Image and Route Map 4

The straight alignment continues on across the M25 and we leave it at the River Roding.

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Last update: July 2020

© David Ratledge