Yes, in places. Many modern roads follow the line of a Roman road, such as sections of the A5 on Watling Street, but the Roman surface is usually buried. Other Roman roads survive as footpaths, farm tracks or earthworks, and some are lost.
Key takeaways
- Many modern roads follow Roman routes, but the road you drive on is normally a later surface laid over or beside the Roman one.
- In Britain, sections of the A5, A2, A3, A15 and A429 follow the Watling Street, Stane Street, Ermine Street and Fosse Way.
- Other stretches survive as footpaths or earthworks, and some have disappeared.
- Our map shows the Roman lines, such as Watling Street at 352 km, but does not compare them with modern road numbers.
How Roman roads survive today
Roman roads are still used in three main ways. Some are now the line of a modern road. Some are footpaths, bridleways or farm tracks. Some survive only as banks in fields, or as marks seen from the air.
The courses, and sometimes the surfaces, of many Roman roads have lasted for millennia, and some are overlaid by modern roads [2]. In Britain, modern roads follow several famous routes [1]:
- Watling Street. The A2 and A207 follow parts of the Kent end, and the A5 follows London to Wroxeter apart from bypasses.
- Ermine Street. The A10, A1198 and A15 (Lincoln to Broughton) follow parts of it, and A1034 and A1079 cover Brough to York.
- Fosse Way. The A37, A429 (Cirencester to Halford), B4455 and A46 follow parts of it.
- Stane Street. The A3 (Newington to Clapham), A24, A29 and A285 follow parts of it, and a section through Eartham Wood is a footpath.
"Follows" matters here. A modern road often runs on the Roman line for some miles, then leaves it. The surface you drive on is modern, and the Roman road, if it is there at all, is buried below it or lies beside it.
Some claimed Roman roads are disputed. High Street in the Lake District is called Roman but its status as a Roman road is problematic, since it looks like a sunken lane rather than a raised agger [2].
An example from our data
Our data names 39 roads. Watling Street is 352 km long, Ermine Street is 421 km, the Fosse Way is 372 km and Stane Street is 93.3 km. In England the dataset holds 10,124 km of road, in Wales 1,117 km and in Scotland 344 km; see the UK page. Each of these road pages has a section on the modern numbered roads that follow it, worked out by comparing the Roman line with today's road network. The lines are mostly conjectured, so treat any overlap as approximate, and switch on the Modern roads layer on the map to compare them yourself.
The thing people get wrong
People often say that a modern road "is" a Roman road. Usually it follows a Roman line, and the Roman surface lies below or alongside it. It is also wrong to think every old straight road is Roman. Later roads were built along Roman lines, and some straight roads are of other dates. Local record offices, the Roman Roads Research Association and excavation reports are the places to check a particular stretch.
Frequently asked questions
Which UK roads follow Roman roads?
Parts of the A5 (Watling Street), A2, A15 and A1034 (Ermine Street), A429 and A46 (Fosse Way) and A3 and A29 (Stane Street) follow Roman lines.
Is the tarmac of the A5 Roman?
No. The line is Roman, but the surface you drive on is modern.
Sources
- Roman roads in Britannia, Wikipedia.
- Roman roads, Wikipedia.
- Every figure from our own map is worked out from the datasets on the data sources page (checked against Itiner-e version 2024 1.3).