Roman road found under modern Old Kent Road in London –

An excavation carried out during utility work in south-east London has uncovered a significant section of one of Britannia’s main Roman roads. It was discovered beneath the modern Old Kent Road in Southwark, which was thought to have been built directly on top of an ancient Roman road, but this is the first archaeological evidence to confirm this. The section has many layers intact, revealing details of its construction methods.

The undiscovered Roman section south of the junction of Old Kent Road and Eaderton Road is well preserved and is 5.8 meters wide by 1.4 meters wide. [19 x 5 feet] High. Different levels can be seen telling the story of the road construction. It has a solid foundation consisting of two layers of chalk-sealed compacted gravel.

This is covered with another layer of compacted sand and gravel. It is likely that the original road surface was made of the same materials and was at a similar level to modern roads, but this has been lost. The foundations of modern roads are built directly on Roman structures.

The road, known as Watling Street after its Old English name, was first built by Iron Age Britons. Shortly after the invasion of Britain in AD 43, the Romans paved and greatly expanded the route, making it a major artery in the Roman road network. Roman Watling Street runs northwest from Dover, across the Thames via Roman Bridge in London, and ends at Roxette. The section through London was built in the winter of 47/48 AD

“It’s amazing that this stretch of road has survived for almost 2,000 years,” said Dave Taylor, MOLA project manager. “There’s been a lot of activity here over the past few hundred years, from sewers to power cables, tram lines and of course the construction of modern roads, so we were delighted to find such a large amount of Roman material remaining.”

The spot where the section of Watling Road is discovered will be signposted on the adjacent railway bridge.