Stane Street (Colchester)

Not to be confused with Stane Street (Chichester)

Roman Britain, with Stane Street in red

Stane Street is a 39-mile Roman road that runs from Ermine Street at Braughing in Hertfordshire to Colchester in Essex.

Some have sought to trace the route back across Hertfordshire as far as Watling Street, at St Albans, which would increase the length to 57 miles.

Route

Stane Street can be traced easily on an Ordnance Survey map as much of it has been incorporated into modern-day roads, or still exists as paths, byways and tracks:

• Possible eastern stretch:
  • Beginning at St Albans, the road leads northeast on the B651. It passes to the south of Wheathampstead and heads towards Welwyn.
  • After Welwyn, the road passes though Oaklands, then turns east-northeast and goes through Watton-at-Stone.
• The main, accepted route:
  • The A602 briefly uses Stane Street as it heads east-northeast then northeast towards Standon, passing just south of the village and over a ford of the River Rib.
  • Stane Street joins the A120 just east of Standon. From here on, the route of Stane Street has been used as the A120 (pre-bypasses of various towns) all the way to Colchester.
  • Heading east through Little Hadham and into Bishop's Stortford, where the road goes missing across the river valley, replaced by the Anglo-Saxon crossing of the River Stort some 600 yards to the south of the Roman crossing.
  • East across the M11 and along the (old A120) B1256 through Takeley and into Great Dunmow, where the new A120 bypasses the old A120, which itself bypasses the centre of town and Stane Street.
  • East towards and through Rayne and Braintree, then Coggeshall, Marks Tey and finally arriving in Colchester.