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Watling Street
Roman road, United Kingdom
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Watling Street,Romanroad inEngland that ran fromDover west-northwest toLondon and thence northwest viaSt. Albans (Verulamium) to Wroxeter (Ouirokónion, or Viroconium). It was one ofBritain’s greatest arterial roads of the Roman and post-Roman periods. The name came from a group of Anglo-Saxon settlers who calledVerulamium by the name of Wætlingaceaster. This local name passed to the whole of the Roman road (Wæclinga stræt) by the 9th century. The tendency to give the name to other main roads is postmedieval and is often mere antiquarianism.