Roman roads in Kent
Kent is where Roman Britain begins. The invasion force of AD 43 landed on this coast, and Rutupiae at Richborough, the bridgehead, carried a great four-way triumphal arch marking the formal entrance to the province. Watling Street ran from it through Durovernum Cantiacorum at Canterbury to London, and Stone Street struck south from Canterbury to the Saxon Shore fort and harbour at Lympne. The A2 and the B2068 still follow those two lines.
- Mapped segments
- 32
- Surveyed length
- 330 km
- Named roads
- 2
Measured from the Itiner-e survey within the modern county boundary, which for Yorkshire, Cheshire and the other counties broken up in 1974 means the traditional area reassembled from its present-day parts. The survey maps far more road than it attributes to a named route, so the segment count counts everything, and the named roads below are only those with a history recorded here.
Where to see it
Richborough is the essential visit: the invasion beachhead, the foundations of the great arch and the walls of the later Saxon Shore fort, all in the care of English Heritage. Lullingstone Roman Villa has mosaics and a Christian house-church, and the B2068 south from Canterbury is Stone Street to drive.
Named roads through Kent
Watling Street
Rutupiae to Viroconium
Stone Street
Durovernum Cantiacorum to Portus Lemanis