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The
Via Devana was a
Roman RoadThe Roman roads were essential for the growth of the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate news. The Roman road system spanned more than 250,000 miles of roads, including more than 50,000 miles of paved roads...
in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
that ran from
ColchesterColchester is a town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001 it had a population of 104,390...
in the south-east to
ChesterChester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
in the north-west. Both were important Roman military centres and it is conjectured that the main reason the road was constructed was military rather than civilian. The Latin name for
ChesterChester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
is
Deva and it was thus 'The Chester Road'.
ColchesterColchester is a town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001 it had a population of 104,390...
was
Colonia Victricensis 'the City of Victory' and lays claim to be the oldest Roman city in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. As it had little civilian rationale it fell into disuse following withdrawal of the last
Roman legionThe Roman legion is a term that can apply both as a translation of legio to the entire Roman army and also, more narrowly , to the heavy infantry that was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army in the period of the late Roman Republic and the...
from
BritainRoman Britain was those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia...
in
407 For the cars, see Peugeot 407 and Bristol 407.-Western Roman Empire:* Gratianus is assassinated, and Constantine III takes his place at the head of the mutinous Roman garrison in Britain. Having been proclaimed the new Roman Emperor by his troops, he leads many of the Roman military...
. As a result its route is difficult to find, especially in its more northern reaches. It is omitted from some historians' maps for this reason but most nowadays accept its existence. The name
Via Devana was created in about 1750 by Charles Mason, a Cambridge geology professor.
Its route ran north and west as follows:
- Colchester
Colchester is a town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001 it had a population of 104,390...
- Colonia Victricensis
- Wixoe
Wixoe is a village and civil parish in the St Edmundsbury district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the northern bank of the River Stour, two miles south-east of Haverhill, in 2005 its population was 140....
(conjectured) - (possible fort)
- Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....
- (Latin name: Cantabrigia. Roman Name: Durolipons or DuroliponteDuroliponte was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Cambridge, located in the English county of Cambridgeshire.The site of Roman Cambridge is located on Castle Hill, just northwest of the city centre...
)
- Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the county of Cambridgeshire in East Anglia, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It was formerly the county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council...
/ GodmanchesterGodmanchester is a small town and civil parish within the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, in England. It lies on the south bank of the River Great Ouse, south of the larger town of Huntingdon, and on the A14 road....
(Durolipus or Durovigutum) where it crossed Ermine StreetErmine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York . The Old English name was 'Earninga Straete' , named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington,Cambridgeshire and Royston,...
- Corby
Corby is a borough of Northamptonshire, and an industrial town located 13 km north of Kettering in the East Midlands of England. The borough had a population of 53,174 at the 2001 Census; the town on its own accounted for 49,222 of this figure. Corby is in a triangle formed by Leicester,...
- Medbourne
Medbourne is a village in Leicestershire.Each year it competes with nearby Hallaton during the Bottle-kicking event on Easter Monday. It is believed that Medbourne, which lay on the Gartree Road was a large market settlement at the time of Roman Britain....
- The stretch from Medbourne to Leicester is broken, but where it exists is nowadays known as the "Gartree Road"
- Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England. It is the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
- (Ratae CorieltauvorumRatae Corieltauvorum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Leicester, located in the English county of Leicestershire.-Name:...
), meeting Fosse WayThe Fosse Way was a Roman road in England that linked Exeter in South West England to Lincoln in the East Midlands, via Ilchester , Bath , Cirencester and Leicester .It joined Akeman Street and Ermin Way at Cirencester, crossed Watling Street at Venonis...
- There is speculation that finds in Moira
Moira is a former mining village in North West Leicestershire, England, lying on the border with Derbyshire. It derives its name from the Irish earldom of Moira, one of the titles of the Hastings family, whose castle was in nearby Ashby-de-la-Zouch...
indicates the 1831 route may have some factual basis.
- Mancetter
Mancetter is a village and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. In 2001, it had a population of 2,449.Mancetter is joined with the town of Atherstone, with which it forms a single urban area...
(ManduessedumManduessedum was a Roman fort and later a civilian small town in the Roman Province of Britannia. Today it is known as Mancetter, located in the English county of Warwickshire.The fort was founded in around c AD 50-AD 60 on the Watling Street Roman road...
) where it joined Watling StreetWatling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...
until
- Water Eaton
Water Eaton may refer to:*Water Eaton, Buckinghamshire, England*Water Eaton, Oxfordshire, England...
- (Pennocrucium) to
- Newport, Shropshire
Newport is a market town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It lies some north of Telford and some west of Stafford sitting on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border...
- (Plesc which meant fortified place or one with palisade) it is here that it followed the same route as the A41The A41 is a formerly-major trunk road in England that links London and Birkenhead, although as stated below it has now largely been superseded by motorways...
towards
- Whitchurch, Shropshire
Whitchurch is a market town in Shropshire, England. It is the oldest continuously inhabited town in Shropshire. According to the 2001 Census, the population of the town is 8,673, with a more recent estimate putting the population of the town at 8,934...
- (Mediolan or Mediolanum)
- Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
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