Watling Street

Magiovinium was a Roman fort that stood just off the throughway known then and now as Watling Street.

Watling Street is an ancient route, first created in the time of the Celts (or perhaps earlier) and used by the Romans as a main thoroughfare. It is still in use today. In Roman times Watling Street ran (the BBC explains in detail here) from Dover and Richborough on the coast of Kent (i.e. from the English Channel) east to west across Britain’s mid-section to Wroxeter. It eventually crosses the River Severn and turns south to connect with Stone Street, which led to major Atlantic coast seaports. Traveling on foot an ambitious 30-plus miles a day you could walk Watling Street from end to end in about twelve days. Maybe we’ll try that one later. The walk we planned to follow runs a mere six to seven, depending on which route you choose.

 The website of the Milton Keynes Museum describes how the military needs of the Romans led to the paving of Watling Street and the creation of the small fort called Magiovinium: 


"From the earliest times it is thought that it was a track for the passage of man and beasts, providing an easier route from the gap in the Greensand escarpment at Brickhill to the fordable crossing of the Ouse at Stratford. With the coming of the Romans, the invasion force had a need for improved communications, and so a hardened road surface was required together with camps at about 12 mile intervals (representing a days march for an army with all its ancillary equipment). Magiovinium was established near to the site of the present Dropshort Farm, and probably originated as a tented encampment and later replaced by more substantial buildings. To the north and south were other stopping off places at Lactodorum (Towcester) and Durocobrovae (Dunstable). The road itself was typically about 24 feet wide to allow chariots to pass safely, and consisted of rammed gravel in the countryside, or stone paved surfaces in the larger towns, which were subject to greater wear and tear. The surface was cambered to allow water to drain, and was often raised on low embankments where it crossed marshy or low lying ground.


When the Romans departed these shores, roads generally fell into disrepair, and Watling Street was no different."

The oldest gold coin in Britain ...

I was drawn to this particular walk because it passes the remains of a Roman fort named Magiovinium or Magiovinto, depending on who you read. The fort’s remains lay in a field just off Watling Street in Fenny Stratford. Magiovinium is the place where one of the oldest (if not the oldest) gold coins in Britain was found by an ordinary guy with a metal detector. Cool.  The coin is currently on display at the British museum in London. Magiovinium was apparently the site of a coin-making enterprise. Arguments continue as to whether this was legitimate enterprise or a counterfeiter at work.