Maiden Way
The Maiden Way or Maidenway is a Roman road built in the very north of Roman territory, now found in Westmorland and Northumberland.
It was known in the Middle Ages as Maydengathe, which gives us the name by which it is known today.
The original road was about 20 miles long and connected Bravoniacum (Kirkby Thore, Westmorland) with Magnae Carvetiorum (Carvoran, Northumberland). It was sometimes considered to have run east along Stanegate to Birdoswald (Banna), then seven miles north to the Shrine of Cocidius (Bewcastle), and thence to Liddesdale[1][2] but the identity of this course as a single road is problematic.[3]
Bravoniacum was a waypoint on the northern leg of the Roman road connecting Luguualium (Carlisle) with Eboracum (York) and points south. Magnae was one of the waypoints on the Stanegate beside Hadrian's Wall. As such, the Maiden Way served as a shortcut for supplying the central and eastern areas of the Wall. It also provided supplies to the lead and silver mines near Epiacum (Whitley Castle).[4]
After the passing of the Romans, the Maidenway was used as a drover's road.[2]
The route was probably named for the "Maiden Castle"[5] guarding the pass at Verterae (Brough).[6]
The Pennine Way footpath follows the line of the Maiden Way for several miles on a roughly north-south line across Lambley Common in Northumberland, above the west bank of the river South Tyne. Immediately north of this stretch, a modern minor road also follows the line of the Maiden Way for several miles to the west of Featherstone Castle.
Outside links
- Codrington, Thomas (1903). "The Maiden Way". Roman Roads in Britain. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/Topics/Engineering/roads/Britain/_Texts/CODROM/5*.html#13.
- "Altogether Archaeology, Theme 3. The Maiden Way Roman Road". Northern Pennines AONB Partnership. http://www.northpennines.org.uk/pages/TheMaidenWayRomanroad.aspx..
- "Keys to the Past: Maiden Way Roman Road (Knaresdale with Kirkhaugh; Coanwood; Hartleyburn)". Durham & Northumberland County Councils. http://www.keystothepast.info/Pages/pgDetail.aspx?PRN=N5968..
References
- ↑ "An Introduction to Roads and Travel in the Anglo-Scottish Borderlands of the Cheviot Region". The Archaeological Practice. 2009. http://www.nnpa.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/147157/cbr-introtoroadsandtravel.pdf.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Michie, Alexander (1863). "A Chapter on Old Local Bridges". Transactions of the Hawick Archaeological Society (Hawick: James Haining & Co.). https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=88wGAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA73.
- ↑ Haverfield, Francis John (1897), "Report of the Cumberland Excavation Committee, 1895", Transactions of the Cumberland&Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society (Kendal: T. Wilson) XIV (Part II), http://www.mocavo.co.uk/Transactions-of-the-Cumberland-Westmorland-Antiquarian-Archaeological-Society-1896-97/960907/192#186
- ↑ Frodsham, Paul (2013). "Altogether Archaeology Fieldwork Module 3a: Maiden Way Roman Road Kirkby Thore Geophyics". Northern Pennines AONB Partnership. http://www.northpennines.org.uk/Lists/DocumentLibrary/Attachments/312//AAmodule3a.pdf. Retrieved 20 February 2015..
- ↑ Norgate, Martin (2014). "Old Cumbria Gazetteer: Maiden Way". Portsmouth: Portsmouth University. http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/lgaz/lk07563.htm. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
- ↑ "Roxburghshire". The Topographical, Statistical, and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland. II. Edinburgh: A. Fullarton & Co.. 1853. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sIHRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA624.
