Roman roads in Northumberland
Northumberland was the far edge of the empire for three centuries, and its roads exist to hold that edge. Dere Street runs north through it and over the Cheviots into Scotland; the Devil's Causeway branches off to the coastal plain; the Stanegate and the Military Way run east to west behind and along Hadrian's Wall. The wall itself, begun around AD 122, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the fort and civilian settlement at Vindolanda produced the writing tablets that are the best evidence anywhere of ordinary Roman life.
- Mapped segments
- 23
- Surveyed length
- 260 km
- Named roads
- 4
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
Housesteads and Vindolanda are the two essential forts, and the wall between Steel Rigg and Housesteads is the finest surviving stretch, with the Military Way, the Vallum and the wall all visible at once. At Corbridge Roman Town the excavated street you walk down the middle of the site is the Stanegate, with Dere Street passing just to the west.
Named roads through Northumberland
Dere Street
Eboracum to Inveresk
The Devil's Causeway
The Portgate to Berwick
Stanegate
Coria to Luguvalium
The Military Way