Ryknild Street

Ryknild Street ran north from the Fosse Way at Bourton-on-the-Water through the West Midlands to Templeborough south of Sheffield. It crossed Watling Street at Letocetum, the small Roman town that became Wall in Staffordshire, where the two great roads met at right angles. The medieval name echoes the prehistoric Icknield Way to the south, though whether the two names share an origin is disputed. Long sections survive as the modern A38 through Derbyshire and Yorkshire. North of Burton-on-Trent the road runs almost dead straight for fifty kilometres, the surveying made easy by the broad and level Trent valley.