Dere Street
Eboracum to Inveresk
The route
Dere Street ran north from Eboracum at York, the legionary fortress and later capital of Britannia Inferior. It passed Isurium Brigantum at Aldborough and Cataractonium at Catterick, crossed the Tees, and reached Vinovia at Binchester.
It continued north to Coria at Corbridge, the great supply base on the Tyne just south of Hadrian's Wall, and crossed the wall itself at the Portgate. Beyond the frontier it pushed on through Redesdale and over the Cheviots at Chew Green, then ran through the Scottish borders past Trimontium at Newstead to reach Inveresk on the Firth of Forth.
The surveyed line
- Mapped length
- 270 km
- Mapped segments
- 18
- Line certainty
- Conjectured
Measured across every Itiner-e segment attributed to this road. A conjectured stretch is one whose course is inferred from evidence either side of it; that covers 100% of the mapped length here. This describes how precisely the line is known, not whether the road existed.
The road today
The A1 follows the line closely between York and Scotch Corner. North of Corbridge the A68 takes up the route across Northumberland and into Scotland, and its long straight climbs and sudden crests are a direct consequence of Roman surveying that took hills head on rather than contouring around them.
See also: which modern roads follow Roman lines, and how closely.
Where to see it
Corbridge Roman Town is the best stop: Dere Street runs north through the site, and the excavated main street you walk down is the Stanegate, rerouted through the town. Chew Green in the Cheviots preserves a remarkable set of Roman camp earthworks in wholly empty country. It lies inside the Otterburn military training area, so check the published firing times before going.
The A68 north of Corbridge is the drive. Its switchback profile is the single clearest demonstration in Britain of how Roman roads treated terrain.
Common questions
Is the A68 a Roman road?
Substantially, yes. The A68 between Corbridge and the Scottish border follows Dere Street, and its famously abrupt crests and dips come from the Roman preference for holding a straight alignment over hilly ground.
How far north did Dere Street go?
As far as Inveresk near Edinburgh, and it served the Antonine Wall during the twenty-odd years that frontier was held. After the Romans fell back to Hadrian's Wall it remained the main road to the northern frontier.