Monument record 1700/1/0 - Roman Road - Chester - Wroxeter (Route 6a)

Watling Street (west) is the name given to the Roman road on a north-south alignment linking the northern legionary fortress at Chester and with the southern fortress at Caerleon near Cardiff by way of Wroxeter where the road connects with the main Watling Street that runs from the south east coast through London then onto St Albans (Verulamium) and Wroxeter (Viroconium). The route of Watling Street (west) can be followed from Chester to its crossing point of the Dee at Aldford and then onto Malpas where it disappears from the landscape.

Presumably Flavian in date at latest. Left south gate of fortress and crossed the River Dee at approximately the same point as the Old Dee Bridge. Then runs close to the line of the present Eaton Road (itself an 18th century re-alignment).

At Heronbridge the Roman road then runs slightly east of present road. Road appears to have changed direction slightly c.1.6 km south of the centre of Eccleston. Alignment continued through Eaton Hall Park, where it crosses the Dee to the north of Aldford Church, by a ford. South of the river its is marked by a track between 2 rows of old thorn trees up to the south side of the castle motte close to the church. The road appears as a terrace just south and independent of the motte's earthworks and then as a large agger running up to the churchyard. At the church a change of alignment is made to SSE, marked by a line of hedgerows with old oaks and with traces of the agger and then by a green lane continued by more hedgerows with clear remains of an agger 24ft wide and 1 ft high. This can be seen where Edgerley Lane crosses it (SJ43055675). To the south the agger lies mainly to the east of the hedge. The hedgerow line continues nearly to the Farndon-Barton Road and a parish boundary follows it. The road then proceeds through Barton to Stretton, then after another turn to the SE, the course is taken up for 5 miles by the road through Tilston and Malpas. At Kidnall Hill the old road is sunken and rough. Just beyond Malpas the straight road ends (1) (2).

The map depicts a line from Lower Moss Farm near Malpas to (almost) Grindley Brook as a 'Roman Road' (7).

<1> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I, 1/216-218 Petch D F 1987 (Book). SCH3556.

<2> Margary, I. D., 1973, Roman Roads in Britain, /296-298 1957 (Book). SCH2903.

<3> Thompson Watkin W. T., 1886, Roman Cheshire: A Description of Roman Remains in the County of Chester, p47 (Book). SCH2878.

<4> Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1970-Present, Britannia, 16/282 Waddelove A C & E 1980 (Journal/Periodical). SCH445.

<5> Anon, 1981, September 1981: North West Newsletter. Excavations (Article in Journal). SCH6496.

<6> Matthews K J, 1999, The creation of landscapes on the edge of the Empire: roads and the landscapes in northwest Britannia (Article in Monograph). SCH7073.

<7> Ordnance Survey, 1995-2017, Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 Scale Map (Maps and Plans). SCH2427.

<8> Higham N J, 1984-9, Professor Nick Higham's Aerial Photographs, 1986/5/58 (Aerial Photograph). SCH7659.