Monument record MNN173676 - Possible Roman Road- Duston to Irchester (Margary route 17?)

A route extending eastwards from Duston towards Irchester (a continuation of the road from the Roman town of Bannaventa located on Watling Street). Evidence for the course of this road is very slight and there are at least two possible routes. One route passes along the high land north of the Nene, which would be hampered by the rolling countryside, while the other is closer to the Nene along the level gravel terraces.

{1} The Roman road from Watling Street to the large Roman settlement at Duston, W. of Northampton, is already recorded (I.D. Margary, Roman Roads in Britain, (1967), 187–8). Its extension E. of Duston is unknown, but it is likely that it once ran on to Irchester. The evidence for such an extension is very slight, but certain features have been noted. There are at least two possible general routes for such a road. One is along the high land N. of the Nene, passing through Little Billing, S. of Ecton, through Earls Barton, N. of Great Doddington and thence to Little Irchester and into the Roman town. This route would be hampered by the physical nature of the countryside for the down-cutting of the S-flowing tributary streams of the Nene has produced a series of narrow, steep-sided valleys cutting across the assumed line of the road. A cropmark of a possible agger has been noted on this route, in Great Doddington parish (at SP 878650; Northants. Archaeol., 8 (1973), 26). The other route is closer to the R. Nene, along the level gravel terraces. This would have been a more easily engineered route and better for traffic but no indications of a road are visible among the extensive cropmarks of prehistoric and Roman settlements in the area (e.g. Ecton (17 and 18) and Earls Barton (7)).

Whichever route the road took, it probably crossed the Nene at Little Irchester and entered the Roman town through its West Gate, but even here no indication of this road has been noted.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 188 (Series). SNN77380.

Record last edited

Mar 3 2026 11:18AM