Excavations of Ermine Street in Lincolnshire

Abstract

The course of the Roman road from London to York, today known as Ermine Street, is well attested. Much of it underlies our comparable modern trunk road, the Great North Road (A1), but there are many deviations. To review the East Midland sector, the modern road covers approximately the Roman road from Huntingdon to the south-east gate of the walled town DVROBRIVAE at Water Newton. Here the modern road bears more to the west and leaves the Roman line. This passes through the ancient town as its main street, crosses the river Nene and continues in the same line until, at a point some three miles south-east of Stamford, it bears more westerly, running west-north-west through Burghley Park. It crosses the Great North Road on the western boundary of the park, where it was exposed in 1732 and seen by Stukeley (1883, ii, 269). From this point its course alters to north-west and, after crossing the river Welland, it underlies a suburban road in the western part of Stamford and crosses the Empingham (Oakham) road (A606). North of this it is seen as a boldly-upraised ridge crossing several fields diagonally until, some three-quarters of a mile south-east of Great Casterton, it joins once again the line of the Great North Road and runs parallel to and immediately adjoining the south side of the modern roadway.