Sarn Helen

Sarn Helen is the Welsh name for the chain of Roman roads that ran north to south through Wales, from Segontium near Caernarfon to Maridunum at Carmarthen. The name comes from Elen Luyddog, Helen of the Hosts, the British wife of the Roman usurper Magnus Maximus whose marching armies she was said to have provisioned in the late fourth century. Stretches of Sarn Helen are still walkable across the heart of Snowdonia, particularly across the moors above Ffestiniog where the road is plain in the turf. Much of the rest is buried beneath modern lanes or lost to forestry.