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107-755: Watling Street is a historic route in England , running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter . The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity , Late Antiquity , and throughout the Middle Ages . It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main Roman roads in Britannia (Roman-governed Great Britain during

214-585: A German aeroplane happened on Christmas Day 1914. Guns at Sheerness fired at the lone invader but still one shell dropped into a field at Iwade . The next event was to occur on 16 January 1915 when another solitary pilot from a German aerodrome in Belgium bombed Sittingbourne. This aircraft, a Taube , was pursued by two local airmen, but managed to escape after dropping a couple of bombs. About 100 air-raid warnings were sounded in Sittingbourne during

321-637: A lance 's width, about three metres, which the landholders through which the Hellweg passed were required to maintain. The Kulmer Steig is a byword for transport links from the Elbe valley over the eastern part of the Eastern Ore Mountains to Bohemian Chlumec u Chabařovic ( German : Kulm ). Archaeological finds suggest that this route existed in the Bronze ( c.  1800–750 BC ) and

428-518: A 200 mm (8-inch) thick pavement of sandstone blocks bound with clay - gypsum mortar , covered by a layer of basaltic flagstones and had separate shoulders . This road could be considered superior to any Roman road . The Via Pythia (or Pythian road) was the route to Delphi . It was revered throughout the Ancient Greek world as the site of the Omphalos stone (the centre of

535-655: A Watling Street but they are not on the route). Following the Viking invasions , the 9th-century Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum mentions Watling Street as a boundary. It is assumed that the pilgrims in Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales used the southeastern stretch of Watling Street when journeying from Southwark to Canterbury . The first turnpike trust in England was established over Watling Street northwest of London by an Act of Parliament on 4 March 1707 in order to provide

642-654: A boundary of many historic administrative units, and some of these are still in existence today, either through continuity or the adoption of these as by successor areas. Examples include: The broad, grassy trackway found by the Romans had already been used by the Britons for centuries. The main path led from Richborough on the English Channel to a natural ford in the Thames at Thorney Island , Westminster , to

749-522: A decline, so that only the Burley yard continued with the repair of barges until about 1965. Charles Burley was a brick maker and barge owner who occupied the yard in Crown Quay Lane, which is now occupied by a builders' merchant. This lack of barge repairs led the creek to become silted and derelict. In 1968, the site was owned by Bourncrete Limited, manufacturers of concrete products. The yard

856-466: A market trading and hostelry stop-off, and more a 19th-century centre of production to fuel the expansion of London, by producing bricks and paper from its clay substrata. The area around Sittingbourne was subject to constant air raids by Zeppelins and aeroplanes during the First World War . The Germans used the town as a reference point for bearings on the way to London. The first visit by

963-462: A modernised version of an observation on its location. The town's name came from the fact that there is a small stream or "bourne" running underground in part of the town. Hasted writing in the 1790s in his History of Kent states that: Sittingbourne was anciently written Sedingbourne, in Saxon, Saedingburga, i.e. the hamlet by the bourne or small stream. The Kent Hundred Rolls of 1274–5, preserved in

1070-776: A prehistoric causeway in the valley of the River Brue in the Somerset Levels , England, is one of the oldest known constructed trackways and dates from around 3800 BCE. The world's oldest known paved road was constructed in Egypt some time between 2600 and 2200 BC. The Romans were the most significant road builders of the ancient world. At the peak of the Roman Empire there were more than 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles) of roads, of which over 80,000 kilometres (50,000 mi) were stone-paved. Another empire, that of

1177-701: A reliable trading route running along chalk hills from the Dorset coast to the Wash in Norfolk . The high dry ground made travel easy and provided a measure of protection by giving traders a commanding view, warning against potential attacks. The Icknield Way follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills , in southern and eastern England, from Norfolk to Wiltshire . Other examples of historic roads in England include

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1284-414: A return on the investment required to once more pave the road. The section from Fourne Hill north of Hockliffe to Stony Stratford was paved at a cost of £ 7000 over the next two years. Revenue was below expectations; in 1709, the trust succeeded in getting a new act extending the term of their monopoly but not permitting their tolls to be increased. In 1711, the trust's debts had not been discharged and

1391-407: A series of glacial eskers formed at the end of the last Ice Age , formed an elevated pathway from east to west, connecting Galway to Dublin . The Siberian Route ( Russian : Сибирский тракт , Sibirsky trakt ), also known as the "Moscow Highway" and "Great Highway", was a historic route that connected European Russia to Siberia and China . The construction of the road was decreed by

1498-649: A site near Wroxeter , where it split. The western continuation went on to Holyhead while the northern ran to Chester and on to the Picts in Scotland. There is a longstanding tradition that a natural ford once crossed the Thames between Thorney Island (present-day Westminster ) and the Lambeth / Wandsworth boundary. Its location means that it is possible that Watling Street crossed it. Several factors may have slowed

1605-608: A successful barge-building industry developed at Milton Creek. Sittingbourne developed into a port during the Industrial Revolution , from which Kentish produce was transported to the London markets. During this era over 500 types of barges are believed to have been built, centred around Conyer , a Roman hamlet of the village of Teynham , found at the head of a small creek between Sittingbourne and Faversham . After World War II , these activities began to fall into

1712-739: A successful raid on London. Donald John Dean VC OBE of Sittingbourne was awarded the Victoria Cross for deeds carried out in France in 1918. His ashes are interred in the family plot at St John the Baptist Church, Tunstall, Kent . As a result of the number of soldiers blinded during the war, the Kent Association for the Blind was formed in Sittingbourne in 1920. Sittingbourne and its consumed suburb of Milton today

1819-720: A target on the skyline. Examples include the Harrow Way and the Pilgrims' Way , running along the North Downs in southern England. The Harrow Way (also spelled as "Harroway") is another name for the "Old Way", an ancient trackway in the south of England, dated by archaeological finds to 600–450 BC, but probably in existence since the Stone Age . The "Old Way" ran from Seaton in Devon to Dover , Kent . Later

1926-536: A tribe in the St Albans area in the early medieval period with an early name of their city being "Waetlingacaester", which would translate into modern English as "Watlingchester". The original Anglo-Saxon name for the section of the route between Canterbury and London was Casingc Stræt or Key Street, a name still borne by a hamlet on the road near Sittingbourne . This section only later became considered part of Watling Street. Watling Street has been used as

2033-456: Is a growing town, with much recent expansion by way of housebuilding in the former chalk and brick clay works digs. Expansion is attributable to the town's train line links to London, some 60 minutes away by high speed rail and easy access to the A2, A249, M2 and M20 (see Transport ). Paper manufacture at Kemsley Paper Mill was the area's largest employer. Much of the surrounding Kentish countryside

2140-486: Is a suitable option for them. Sittingbourne Adult Education Centre provides some post-16 and adult training in the town and there is an Adult Skills centre located in the town centre. In May 2015 a post-16 technical college opened in the town. The town is served by Sittingbourne railway station which is located approximately 44 miles from London Victoria and located on the Chatham Main Line , close to

2247-575: Is also served by the Arriva Southern Counties route 334 to Maidstone , Iwade , Minster and Sheerness and by the Stagecoach South East route X3 to Maidstone, Teynham , Faversham and Canterbury . The towns bus services all serve Sittingbourne Bus Hub which opened in 2019. Sittingbourne is geographically located midway between the major port of Dover and London. The first significant transport connection to

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2354-409: Is evidence of settlement in the area before 2000 BC, with farming and trading tribes living inland to avoid attack, yet close enough to access the sea at Milton Creek. In AD 43, the Romans invaded Kent, and to make access quicker between London and Dover , built Watling Street , which passed straight through Sittingbourne. As a point where sea access met road access, the port of Milton Regis became

2461-469: Is geologically rich in chalk , which is not found in many other places in Europe in such abundance. This led to the development associated industries: water transport, paper, and cement; all of which continue today in the area. In 1870, up to 2,628 men were working in the brick and tile industry, this is compared to Staffordshire (the next largest brick manufacturing area) that had only 1,566 men working in

2568-528: Is good farming land, and being southerly in the UK many varieties of fruit are grown nearby, with this part of Kent being particularly famous for apples and cherries. Fruit preserving and packing are hence large employers, while new industrial and retail parks provide additional employment and services. The current MP is Kevin McKenna ( Labour Party ). The local clay was suitable for making bricks, and North Kent

2675-509: Is listed as taking 24  Roman miles rather than 17. The more direct route north from Londinium (London) to Eboracum ( York ) was Ermine Street . The stations between Eboracum and Cataractonium ( Catterick ) were shared with Dere Street , which then branched off to the northeast. Durocobrivis ( Dunstable ) was the site of the path's intersection with the Icknield Way . The Maiden Way ran from Bravoniacum ( Kirkby Thore ) to

2782-465: Is now awaiting relocation to a new site Plans to move to Whitstable Harbour were refused in 2013. Paper mills and brickfields were fed by barges that brought in sand, mud and household waste such as cinders for brick making, and took away the finished product on the return journey. Paper manufacture started in Sittingbourne in 1708, when Peter Archer was recorded as a Paper Maker. Sittingbourne Mill existed from circa 1769, which by 1820 had grown and

2889-620: Is on the original route.) Dere Street , the Roman road from Cataractonium ( Catterick in Yorkshire ) to Corstopitum (now Corbridge , Northumberland ) to the Antonine Wall , was also sometimes known as Watling Street. A third Watling Street was the Roman road from Mamucium ( Manchester ) to Bremetennacum ( Ribchester ) to Cumbria . Preston , Lancashire , preserved a Watling Street Road between Ribbleton and Fulwood , passing

2996-568: Is preserved beneath Old Kent Road . The 2nd-century Antonine Itinerary gives the course of Watling Street from " Urioconium " (Wroxeter) to " Portus Ritupis " (Richborough) as a part of its Second Route ( Iter II ), which runs for 501  MP from Hadrian's Wall to Richborough: Some site in the middle section of this route is supposed by most historians to have been the location of G. Suetonius Paulinus 's decisive victory over Boudica 's Iceni in AD ;61. The two routes of

3103-1090: Is restricted or banned. The name Watling Street is still used along the ancient road in many places, for instance in Bexleyheath in southeast London and in Canterbury , Gillingham , Strood , Gravesend , and Dartford in Kent . North of London, the name Watling Street still occurs in Hertfordshire (including St Albans ), Bedfordshire ( Dunstable ), Buckinghamshire ( Milton Keynes ), Northamptonshire ( Towcester ), Leicestershire ( Hinckley ), Warwickshire ( Nuneaton and Atherstone ) and in Staffordshire ( Cannock , Wall , Tamworth and Lichfield ). (There are Watling Streets in Shropshire ( Church Stretton ) and in Gwynedd ( Llanrwst ), but neither

3210-637: Is today south-west Poland . See also the Via Regia Lusatiae Superioris . An important medieval German pilgrim route was the Via Tolosana (because the most important town along the way is Toulouse , France). This is one of the four medieval pilgrim routes described by Aimery Picaud in his 12th-century Pilgrim's Guide , used by pilgrims from southern and eastern Europe on the Way of St James to Santiago de Compostela . See also

3317-542: The Antonine Itinerary immediately following ( Iter III & IV ) list the stations from Londinium to " Portus Dubris " ( Dover ) and to " Portus Lemanis " ( Lympne ) at the north eastern edge of the Romney Marsh , suggesting that they may have been considered interchangeable terminuses. They only differ in the distance to Durovernum : 14 and 17 Roman miles , respectively. The route to Lemanis

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3424-612: The Bowater Light Railway, much loved as it was by the firm (and with assistance of Capt Peter Manisty) was handed over to the Locomotive Club of Great Britain to be preserved and operated as the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway. It has since become a significant feature in the town's tourist industry, and provides the only method of transport to the annual Sittingbourne Beer Festival. However, it has been under threat of closure since 2008 when M-real sold

3531-576: The Incas of pre-Columbian South America , also built an extensive and advanced transportation system. Much later historic roads include the Red River Trails between Canada and the US, from the 19th century. Such pioneer trails often made use of ancient routes created by indigenous people . The Silk Road was a major trade route between China and India, Europe, and Arabia. It derives its name from

3638-641: The Iron Age (750 BC – early AD) and even in the Neolithic ( Stone Age c.  4500–1800 BC ) The Post Track and Sweet Track , causeways or timber trackways, in the Somerset levels , near Glastonbury , are believed to be the oldest known purpose built roads in the world and have been dated to the 3800s BC . The tracks were walkways consisting mainly of planks of oak laid end-to-end, supported by crossed pegs of ash , oak, and lime , driven into

3745-787: The KM Group . In December 2011, the East Kent Gazette , the town's other local newspaper, closed down with the loss of 39 jobs, having been the town's local news outlet since 1856. The town has one senior football team, Sittingbourne F.C. (nicknamed "The Brickies"). Sittingbourne F.C. currently play their games at Woodstock Park, part of the Kent Science Park complex. The club play in the Isthmian League Division One South. The town has two hockey clubs: Sittingbourne Hockey Club based in

3852-624: The Long Causeway , a Medieval packhorse route that ran from Sheffield to Hathersage and The Mariners' Way in Devon. The latter was created by sailors in the eighteenth century, or earlier, travelling between the ports of Bideford and Dartmouth, Devon , who linked existing lanes, tracks and footpaths to form a direct route. In Aberdeenshire , Scotland , ancient tracks include the Causey Mounth , an ancient drovers' road over

3959-671: The Maurya Empire in 300 BC. Soon after, the Greek diplomat Megasthenes (c. 350 – c. 290 BC) wrote of his travels along the road to reach Hindu kingdoms in the 3rd century BC After invading India over 1,500 years later, Mughals extended the Grand Trunk Road westwards from Lahore to Kabul (the capital of Afghanistan) crossing the Khyber Pass . The road was later improved and extended from Calcutta to Peshawar by

4066-551: The National Archives , record Sittingbourne as Sydingeburn in the following entries " Item dicunt quod Johannes Maresescall de Synele tenet unam parvam purpresturam in villa de Sydingeburn et solvit domino regi per annum 1d et dominus rex nichil perdit et quod Petrus de London tenet unam parvam purpresturam in villa de Sydingeburn et solvit inde per annum domino regi 1d et rex nichil perdit." Translated as, "Then they say John Marshall de Synele holds one small encroachment in

4173-752: The Palatine Ways of St. James . The Wittemoor timber trackway is a log causeway or corduroy road across a bog at Neuenhuntdorf, part of the Berne in the district of Wesermarsch in Lower Saxony , Germany. Originating in the pre-Roman Iron Age , it is one of several such causeways which have been found in the North German Plain, particularly in the Weser-Ems region. It has been dated by dendrochronology to 135  BCE . It ran across

4280-510: The Roman Empire ). The line of the road was later the southwestern border of the Danelaw with Wessex and Mercia , and Watling Street was numbered as one of the major highways of medieval England. First used by the ancient Britons, mainly between the areas of modern Canterbury and St Albans using a natural ford near Westminster , the road was later paved by the Romans . It connected

4387-416: The gallery roads , consisting of wooden planks erected on wooden or stone beams slotted into holes cut into the sides of cliffs. The roads join three adjacent basins separated and surrounded by high mountains. Like many ancient road systems, the Shu Roads formed a network of major and minor roads with different roads being used at different historical times. However, a number of roads are commonly identified as

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4494-482: The geography of the region. In the early Middle Ages , people often preferred to travel along elevated drainage divides or ridgeways rather than in the valleys. This was due to thick forests and other natural obstacles in valleys. The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber from coastal areas of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea . Prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by

4601-411: The ridgeways in England. By using this route rivers were avoided, or fords used, close to the rivers sources. Over time by this route was improved with paved fords, embankments and bridges. Concentrations of mounds, defensive ditches, settlements and other historic landmarks can be found along the road and sections of it can be traced back to 4000 BC. Roman roads were physical infrastructure vital to

4708-467: The British rulers of colonial India . For many centuries, the road has acted as a major trade route and facilitated travel and postal communication. The Grand Trunk Road remains under use for transportation in India. The Khyber Pass was an all-season mountain pass connecting Afghanistan to western Pakistan . Brick-paved streets appeared in India as early as 3000 BC. Except for Roman roads , European pathways were rarely in good shape and depended on

4815-484: The Confessor . A number of Old English names testify to route of Watling Street at this time: Boughton Street in Kent ; Colney Street in Hertfordshire ; Fenny Stratford and Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire ; Old Stratford in Northamptonshire; Stretton-under-Fosse and Stretton Baskerville in Warwickshire . (The three adjacent settlements of All Stretton , Church Stretton , and Little Stretton in Shropshire ; and Stretton Sugwas in Herefordshire have

4922-422: The First World War and anti-aircraft batteries were strengthened in 1917. The last big raid to pass over the town on Whit Sunday (19 May 1918), carried out by a number of Gothas , eliciting perhaps the most ferocious barrage from the ground defences the town had ever seen. The local newspaper, the East Kent Gazette , reported: The second Gotha was surrounded by British fighters shortly after, returning from

5029-423: The Great (Darius I) of the first ( Achaemenid ) Persian Empire in the 5th century BCE. Darius built the road to facilitate rapid communication throughout his very large empire from Susa , Syria to Sardis , Turkey . It is claimed that some of the earliest roads were created by humans who followed already existing paths made by animals, and, in particular, that trails created by the herds of buffalo shaped

5136-420: The Levant and the Ancient Near East. From the Black Sea , trade could continue to Asia along the Silk Road . Hærvejen (Danish, meaning "the army road") ran from Viborg, Denmark through Flensburg (in the present northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein ) to Hamburg . The road runs more or less along the watershed of the Jutland Peninsula, known as the Jyske Højderyg (Jutland Ridge), similar to

5243-442: The Roman administrative centre for the area, with some 20 villas so far discovered, but Sittingbourne remained a minor hamlet throughout Roman times. Most Roman finds in this area were due to the efforts of 19th-century brick makers who used topsoil to make bricks, and uncovered the finds; and preserved thanks to banker George Payne, who preserved or bought materials and published his works in 1893 in Collectanea Cantiana . There

5350-435: The Roman road ran along Old Dover Road , turning and running through the area of present-day Greenwich Park to a location perhaps a little north of the current Deptford Bridge. North of London, the road is designated mainly as the A5 between London and Shrewsbury . At various points along the route, the A5 leaves the Roman road to bypass settlements, but its historic route invariably remains evident even where motor traffic

5457-425: The Rose Inn was built, originally called Rose Place and used as a private house. According to Edward Hasted "the principal inn now in it (Sittingbourne), called the Rose, is perhaps the most superb of any throughout the kingdom." In 1825 the future Queen Victoria and her mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld stayed overnight at the Rose Inn. After the railway came in 1858, Sittingbourne became less

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5564-414: The Sharoe Green Hospital. Both of these may preserve a separate derivation from the Old English wealhas ("foreigner") or may have preserved the memory of the long Roman road while misattributing its upper stages to better-preserved roads. The Roman road between Deva Victrix (Chester) and Condate (Northwich) is also known locally as Watling Street. Historic roads and trails The Post Track ,

5671-470: The Summoner in "The Wife of Bath's Prologue" saying: But if I telle tales two or thre / Of freres er I come to Sidyngborne / That I shal make thyn herte for to morne The parish church of St Michael was built in the 13th century. At that time, the High Street had 13 pubs and hostels. The Lyon – now the Red Lion – hosted King Henry V of England on his way back from the Battle of Agincourt , and Henry VIII visited Sittingbourne in 1522 and 1532. In 1708,

5778-448: The Swale , a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey . The town became prominent after the death of Thomas Becket in 1170, since it provided a convenient resting point on the road from London to Canterbury and Dover . Chatham Main Line links to London Victoria station and HS1 to St Pancras International , the journey taking about an hour from Sittingbourne railway station . Sittingbourne owes its name to

5885-412: The Thames. They did not return to Lundenburh (the City of London ) until forced to do so by the Vikings in the late 9th century. Over time, the graveling and paving itself fell into disrepair, although the road's course continued to be used in many places as a public right of way . "Watlingestrate" was one of the four roads ( Latin : chemini ) protected by the king's peace in the Laws of Edward

5992-429: The Tsar two months after the conclusion of the Treaty of Nerchinsk , on 22 November 1689, but it did not start until 1730 and was not finished until the mid-19th century. Previously, Siberian transport had been mostly by river via Siberian River Routes . First Russian settlers arrived in Siberia by the Cherdyn river route which was superseded by the Babinov overland route in the late 1590s. The town of Verkhoturye in

6099-431: The Urals was the most eastern point of the Babinov Road. The much longer Siberian route started in Moscow as the Vladimir Highway (a medieval road) and passed through Murom , Kozmodemyansk , Kazan , Perm , Kungur , Yekaterinburg , Tyumen , Tobolsk , Tara , Kainsk , Tomsk , Yeniseysk and Irkutsk . After crossing Lake Baikal the road split near Verkhneudinsk . One branch continued east to Nerchinsk while

6206-419: The Wittemoor bog, connecting the more elevated geest at Hude with the River Hunte . An Iron Age settlement near a spring in the Lintel section of Hude was at the southern end. A section of the trackway has been reconstructed. Built somewhat later, the Wittmoor Bog Trackways are two historic trackways discovered in Wittmoor in northern Hamburg . The trackways date to the 4th and 7th century AD, both linked

6313-452: The amber trade. As an important commodity, sometimes dubbed "the gold of the north", amber was transported overland by way of the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to the Mediterranean area from at least the 16th century BC. The breast ornament of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen (ca. 1333–1324 BC) contains large Baltic amber beads. The quantity of amber in the Royal Tomb of Qatna, Syria, is unparalleled for known second millennium BC sites in

6420-416: The capital at Nara or Kyoto . Later, Edo was the reference, and even today Japan reckons directions and measures distances along its highways from Nihonbashi in Chūō, Tokyo . The Grand Trunk Road in the Indian subcontinent was the main road from modern day Bangladesh , through what is now India , Pakistan and Afghanistan . A route since antiquity, it was constructed into a coherent highway by

6527-413: The coastal fringe of the Grampian Mountains and Elsick Mounth , which was one of the few means of traversing the Grampian Mounth area in prehistoric and medieval times. Roman legions marched along the Elsick Mounth. In Roman Britain , many trackways were built upon by the Romans to form the foundations for their roads . Prior to this, people used trackways to travel between settlements but this

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6634-434: The conventional date for the origins of the Silk Road by at least two millennia. See also the Northern Silk Road , the Southern Silk Road: Through Khotan , Tea Horse Road . The Shudao ( Chinese : 蜀道 ; pinyin : Shǔdào ), or the "Road(s) to Shu", is a system of mountain roads linking the Chinese province of Shaanxi with Sichuan (Shu), built and maintained since the 4th century BC. Technical highlights were

6741-460: The creditors took over receivership of the tolls. In 1716, a new act restored the authority of the trust under the supervision of another group appointed by the Buckinghamshire justices of the peace. The trust failed to receive a further extension of their rights in 1736 and their authority ended at the close of 1738. In 1740, a new act named new trustees to oversee the road, which the residents of Buckinghamshire described as being "ruined". The road

6848-454: The demands of Fleet Street . In 1924, Lloyd's son built a new factory at Kemsley , together with a model village for employees. He died in 1936, when the Lloyd group was taken over by Sir William Berry , who in 1936 formed the Bowater-Lloyd Group . After both plants were acquired by Metsa Serla in 1998, the decision was made to close the Sittingbourne Mill in October 2006, with the last reel produced on 23 January 2007. Sittingbourne and

6955-402: The earth and universe). The Sacred Way ( Ancient Greek : Ἱερὰ Ὁδός , Hierá Hodós ), in ancient Greece , was the road from Athens to Eleusis . It was so called because it was the route taken by a procession celebrating the Eleusinian Mysteries . The procession to Eleusis began at the Sacred Gate in the Kerameikos (the Athenian cemetery) on the 19th Boedromion . In the present day,

7062-427: The eastern and western shores of the formerly inaccessible, swampy bog. A part of the older trackway No. II dating to the period of the Roman Empire is on display at the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg . Hellweg was the official and common name given to main travelling routes medieval trade route through Germany. Their breadth was decreed as an unimpeded passageway

7169-487: The eastern part of the Harrow Way become known as the Pilgrims Way , following the canonisation of Thomas Beckett and the establishment of a shrine in Canterbury , Kent . This pilgrimage route ran from Winchester , Hampshire , via Farnham , Surrey , to Canterbury Kent . The western section of the Harrow Way ends in Farnham, the eastern in Dover. The Ridgeway similarly keeps to high ground and for at least 5,000 years travellers have used it. The Ridgeway provided

7276-425: The even more ancient system of Yamato government called Gokishichidō . This was the name for ancient administrative units and the roads within these units, organized in Japan during the Asuka period (AD 538–710), as part of a legal and governmental system borrowed from the Chinese. Many highways and railway lines in modern Japan follow the ancient routes and carry the same names. The early roads radiated from

7383-406: The fort at Epiacum ( Whitley Castle ) with its remarkable ramparts, and on to the Hadrian's Wall fort of Magnis (Carvoran) . By the time of the Saxon invasions , the Roman bridge across the Thames had presumably fallen into disrepair or been destroyed. The Saxons abandoned the walled Roman site in favour of Lundenwic to its west, presumably because of its more convenient access to the ford on

7490-412: The heart of town at Borden Grammar School . and Gore Court Hockey Club, who play at Westlands School and share the clubhouse at Gore Court ; Motorcycle speedway racing has been staged near Sittingbourne for a number of years. The track was originally used for training alone but since 1994 the Sittingbourne Crusaders took part in the Conference League and other competitions. The track remains today as

7597-557: The historic route, the name Watling Street remains in modern use. The original Celtic and Roman name for the road is unknown, and the Romans may not have viewed it as a single path at all, since parts of it were assigned to two separate itineraries in one 2nd-century list . The modern name instead derives from the Old English Wæcelinga Stræt , from a time when "street" ( Latin : via strata ) referred to any paved road and had no particular association with urban thoroughfares. The Waeclingas ("people of Waecla ") were

7704-417: The industry. Brickmaking continued in the town well into the mid twentieth century. The bricks for the 3.45-mile (5,550 m) London Bridge – Greenwich Railway Viaduct were all made at Sittingbourne and transported to the site by barge. Barges were needed to move many other raw materials and finished goods into the Thames and to London and beyond. Sittingbourne was ideally suited for this purpose and

7811-781: The junction where it meets the Sheerness Line . Opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway in 1858, the station is now managed by Southeastern who operate all services. The station is served by regular mainline and high speed services to London Victoria , London St Pancras International (via High Speed 1 ), The Medway Towns , Canterbury , Dover and Ramsgate as well as by an hourly shuttle service to Sheerness-on-Sea . Most bus services in Sittingbourne are provided by Chalkwell Coaches who operate services 326, 327, 347 and 349 to Chatham , Gillingham , Rainham , Upchurch , Newington , Kemsley and Murston . Sittingbourne

7918-538: The landscape over millennia. Improvements in metallurgy meant that by 2000 BC stone-cutting tools were generally available in the Middle East and Greece allowing local streets to be paved. Notably, in about 2000 BC, the Minoans built a 50 km (31-mile) paved road from Knossos in north Crete through the mountains to Gortyn and Lebena , a port on the south coast of the island, which had side drains,

8025-746: The last decades of the 19th century, when it was superseded by the Trans-Siberian Railway (built 1891–1916), and the Amur Cart Road (built 1898–1909). The contemporary equivalent is the Trans-Siberian Highway . Streets paved with cobblestones appeared in the city of Ur in the Middle East dating back to 4000 BC. The Royal Road was an ancient highway reorganized and rebuilt by the Persian king Darius

8132-639: The lucrative trade in silk carried out along its length, beginning in the Han dynasty (207 BCE–220 CE). The Han dynasty expanded the Central Asian section of the trade routes around 114 BCE through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy Zhang Qian . The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of

8239-848: The main routes. Kaidō ( 街道 , road ) were roads in Japan dating from the Edo period (between 1603 and 1868). They act important roles in transportation like the Appian way of ancient Roman roads. Major examples include the Edo Five Routes , all of which started at Edo (modern-day Tokyo ). Minor examples include sub-routes such as the Hokuriku Kaidō and the Nagasaki Kaidō . Kaidō , however, do not include San'yōdō , San'indō , Nankaidō and Saikaidō , which were part of

8346-720: The maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire . They ranged from small local roads to broad, long-distance highways built to connect cities, major towns and military bases. These major roads were often stone-paved and metaled, cambered for drainage, and flanked by footpaths, bridleways and drainage ditches. They were laid along accurately surveyed courses, and some were cut through hills, or conducted over rivers and ravines on bridgework. Sections could be supported over marshy ground on rafted or piled foundations. At

8453-541: The mill was also built. On what is now known as the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway , in 1906 the first of three steam locomotives, Premier, came into service, all 0-4-2 Brazil type tank engines sourced from Kerr Stuart . In 1913 the railway was extended to the new dock built at Ridham . In 1912, Sittingbourne Paper Mill was the largest producer of newsprint in the world, with its 1,200 employees using 17 machines to make over 2000 tonnes per week, supplying

8560-601: The old path. A section of Watling Street still exists in the City of London close to Mansion House underground station on the route of the original Roman road which traversed the River Thames via the first London Bridge and ran through the City in a straight line from London Bridge to Newgate . The sections of the road in Central London possess a variety of names, including Edgware Road and Maida Vale . At Blackheath ,

8667-441: The other went south to the border post of Kyakhta where it linked to camel caravans that crossed Mongolia to a Great Wall gate at Kalgan . In the early 19th century, the route was moved to the south. From Tyumen the road proceeded through Yalutorovsk , Ishim , Omsk , Tomsk , Achinsk and Krasnoyarsk before rejoining the older route at Irkutsk. It remained a vital artery connecting Siberia with Moscow and Europe until

8774-572: The peak of Rome's development, no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the capital, and the late Empire's 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads. The whole comprised more than 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles) of roads, of which over 80,000 kilometres (50,000 mi) were stone-paved. In Gaul alone, no less than 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi) of roadways are said to have been improved, and in Britain at least 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi). The courses (and sometimes

8881-438: The ports of Dubris (Dover), Rutupiae ( Richborough Castle ), Lemanis ( Lympne ), and Regulbium ( Reculver ) in Kent to the Roman bridge over the Thames at Londinium (London). The route continued northwest through Verulamium (St Albans) on its way to Viroconium Cornoviorum ( Wroxeter ). Watling Street is traditionally cited as having been the location of the Romans' defeat of Boudica , though precisely where on

8988-613: The predecessor of France, and East Francia became that of Germany. The Old Salt Route or Alte Salzstraße of the Hanseatic League was a medieval trade route in northern Germany that transported salt from Lüneburg to Lübeck . The Rennsteig is a ridgeway and an historical boundary path in the Thuringian Forest , Thuringian Highland and Franconian Forest in Central Germany . It

9095-493: The river here, leading to the depositing of enough sediments to create a usable ford: The Romans began constructing paved roads shortly after their invasion in AD 43. The London portion of Watling Street was rediscovered during Christopher Wren 's rebuilding of St Mary-le-Bow in 1671–73, following the Great Fire . Modern excavations date its construction to the winter from AD 47 to 48. Around London, it

9202-438: The road from central Athens to Aegaleo and Chaidari (the old route to Eleusis) is called after the ancient road. The Corlea Trackway is an ancient road built on a bog consisting of packed hazel, birch and alder planks placed lengthways across the track, and occasional cross timbers for support. Other bog trackways or "toghers" have also been discovered dating to around 4000 BC. The Corlea trackway dates from approx 148 BC and

9309-582: The rocks, and, by the easiest of grades, over or around hills". Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in the Swale district, in Kent , southeast England , 17 miles (27 km) from Canterbury and 45 miles (72 km) from London, beside the Roman Watling Street , an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The town stands next to

9416-449: The route is disputed. The Roman Antonine Itinerary lists sites along the route of Watling Street as part of a longer route of 500 Roman miles connecting Richborough with Hadrian's Wall via Wroxeter. The continuation on to Blatobulgium ( Birrens , Dumfriesshire ) beyond Hadrian's Wall in modern Scotland may have been part of the same route, leading some scholars to call this Watling Street as well, although others restrict it to

9523-521: The routes taken first by indigenous peoples and then colonists, especially in North America: However, Frank G. Roe disputes this theory – and its wider application – in "The 'Wild Animal Path' Origin of Ancient Roads". Some suggest that the portage routes of North American indigenous peoples followed "the game trails the animals had made around rough water. ... [And] as centuries passed, well-trodden paths were made, winding among

9630-468: The separate localities to the camp meeting places and cross-country flint roads. Others were more likely to have been processional ways, such as the one leading to the gigantic temple at Avebury in Wiltshire. On British hills, the line of tracks often run a little below the actual crest of a ridge , possibly to afford some shelter from the wind or to avoid travellers presenting themselves to marauders as

9737-453: The site to a property developer. Local television news programmes are BBC South East Today and ITV News Meridian . Local radio stations for Sittingbourne are BBC Radio Kent , Heart South , and 106.9 SFM. They provide a full local community radio service and have been broadcasting since Thursday 26 July 2012. The local newspaper is called KM Sittingbourne Messenger and the mid-week edition KM Sittingbourne News Extra , published by

9844-647: The southern leg. In the early 18th century, England's first turnpike trust was established to pave the route through Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire . In the early 19th century, the course between London and the Channel was paved and became known as the Great Dover Road . The route from London to Wroxeter forms much of the A5 road . The route from Dover to London forms part of the A2 road . At various points along

9951-707: The surfaces) of many Roman roads survived for millennia; some are overlaid by modern roads. Francia or the Frankish Empire was the largest post-Roman Barbarian kingdom in Western Europe . It was ruled by the Franks during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages . It is the predecessor of the modern states of France and Germany . After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, West Francia became

10058-460: The surrounding area have a number of primary schools. The main secondary schools in the town are Fulston Manor School , The Sittingbourne School , The Westlands School and two single sex Grammar Schools, Borden Grammar School (Boys) and Highsted Grammar School (Girls). Pupils wishing to apply for a year 7 place at grammar school have to take the Kent Test (11+) to assess if grammar school

10165-459: The town was the Roman construction of Watling Street , now the A2 main road . The M2 motorway bypasses the town to the south. The A249 passes the town on the west, heading between Maidstone and Sheerness. The preserved former paper mill railway the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway still exists today. In 1965 it was decided that the railway was uneconomic, so lorries were more commonly used for transporting produce. Consequently, by 1969

10272-601: The trade route. Prior to the Silk Road an ancient overland route existed through the Eurasian Steppe . Silk and horses were traded as key commodities; secondary trade included furs, weapons, musical instruments, precious stones (turquoise, lapis lazuli, agate, nephrite) and jewels. This route extended for approximately 10,000 km (6,200 mi).  Trans-Eurasian trade through the Steppe Route precedes

10379-486: The underlying peat. and were used to link the fen islands across the marshes . The Lindholme Trackway is later and dates to around 2900–2500 BC. It fits within a trend of narrowing width and increased sophistication during the third millennium BC. Some argue that this shift could relate to the growing complexity of wheeled transport at the time. Tracks provided links between farmsteads and fields, other farmsteads, and neighbouring long barrow tombs. They also joined

10486-427: The vill of Sittingbourne and he pays the lord king 1d. each year and the lord king loses nothing and that Peter of London holds one small encroachment in the vill of Sittingbourne and he pays 1d. each year to the lord king and the king loses nothing." In 1921, the civil parish had a population of 9339. On 31 March 1930 the parish was abolished to form " Sittingbourne and Milton ", part also went to Tunstall. There

10593-610: Was 7.5–8.7 m (25–29 ft) wide and paved with gravel. It was repeatedly redone, including at least twice before the sack of London by Boudica 's troops in 60 or 61. The road ran straight from the bridgehead on the Thames to what would become Newgate on the London Wall before passing over Ludgate Hill and the Fleet and dividing into Watling Street and the Devil's Highway west to Calleva ( Silchester ). Some of this route

10700-709: Was a connecting road between small independent states in Thuringia . The route crosses the Thuringian Forest and the slate mountains of Thuringia and Franconian Forest , stretching from Hörschel at the river Werra (near Eisenach ) to Blankenstein at the river Saale . It is part of the European long-distance paths network. The Via Regia (king's road) is a medieval road that ran from Frankfurt am Main to Görlitz in Lower Silesia, in what

10807-555: Was again paved in the early 19th century at the expense of Thomas Telford . He operated it as a turnpike road for mail coaches from Ireland . To this purpose, he extended it to the port of Holyhead on Anglesey in Wales. During this time, the section southeast of London became known as the Great Dover Road . The tolls ended in 1875. Much of the road is still in use today, apart from a few sections where it has been diverted. The A2 road between Dover and London runs over or parallel to

10914-536: Was excavated in 1994. It is the largest trackway of its kind to be uncovered in Europe. Ireland's prehistoric roads were minimally developed, but oak-plank pathways covered many bog areas, and five great 'ways' ( Irish : slighe ) converged at the Hill of Tara . An ancient avenue or trackway in Ireland is located at Rathcroghan Mound and the surrounding earthworks within a 370m circular enclosure. The Esker Riada ,

11021-544: Was no entry for Sittingbourne in the Domesday book of 1086, merely a note attached to Milton Regis showing a population of 393 households. However, after the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury , Thomas Becket in 1170, pilgrims began to travel to Canterbury Cathedral and Sittingbourne became a useful hostelry for travellers. Sittingbourne is mentioned as a stopping point in Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales , with

11128-523: Was owned by Edward Smith. The Daily Chronicle owner Edward Lloyd bought the site in 1863. Using pulped straw from the local farmers and esparto (imported from Algeria and Southern Spain ) as a replacement for expensive cotton rag which was becoming more expensive; the output supplied newsprint for his mills in Bow. To speed production, in 1904 Lloyd's son built a wharf on the tidal inlet at Milton Creek in 1904;a horse-drawn tramway to carry materials to

11235-644: Was sometimes distinguished by the name "Stone Street" ; it now forms most of the B2068 road that runs from the M20 motorway to Canterbury. The route between Durovernum and the fortress and port at Regulbium ( Reculver ) on Kent's northern shore is not given in these itineraries but was also paved and is sometimes taken as a fourth terminus for Watling Street. The Sixth Route ( Iter VI ) also recorded an alternate path stopping at Tripontium ( Newton and Biggin ) between Venonis ( High Cross ) and Bannaventa ( Norton ); it

11342-627: Was then leased to the newly established Dolphin Sailing Barge Museum Trust. The inlet alongside the Museum usually contains at least one vessel brought to the yard for restoration , including the famous sailing barge Cambria . The town's links with water transport survive today, through a bronze statue of a bargeman in the town centre. The Dolphin Sailing Barge Museum was destroyed by arson in 2008. The museum

11449-722: Was unsuitable for the swift movement of troops and equipment. Mastiles Lane was a Roman marching road and later an important route for monks leading sheep from Fountains Abbey to summer pasture on higher ground. Also known as the Old Monks' Road, this is now a Dales walking track. The existence of ley lines and their relationship with ancient trackways was first suggested in 1921 by the amateur archaeologist Alfred Watkins , in his books Early British Trackways and The Old Straight Track . Watkins theorized that these alignments were created for ease of overland trekking on ancient trackways during neolithic times and had persisted in

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