Watling Street

a famous military road built by the Romans in Great Britain. It started at Dover and led northwestward through Canterbury and London along the boundaries of the present counties of Leicester and Warwick to Chester on the Dee. It may be described as a military road leading across country from the Strait of Dover to the Irish Sea. Branches led to York, Carlisle, and Newcastle. It was substantially built. Traces are still in existence. Portions of the old roadbed are still important highways. A street in London retains the name. By the treaty of Wedmore, concluded by Alfred the Great in 885, Watling was made the boundary between his Saxon kingdom of the south and the Danish kingdom of the north. See Road