Which London roads have been trodden by human feet for the longest?
All of us, at some time, has stopped to wonder at the countless generations who must have passed along the same streets as ourselves. As we walk along an ancient route like Bishopsgate, we are following in the footsteps of millions of long-vanished Londoners. But which roads have seen more generations than others? Where is London's oldest road?
Golden oldies
London has a lot of 'Old' streets when you look for them. Old Street itself, of course, but also Old Kent Road, Old Park Lane, Old Bond Street, Old Compton Street, Old Burlington Street, Old Broad Street, Old Brompton Road, Old Bailey... and that's just a selection from the centre.
Most are not as old as their names suggest. Old Compton Street, for example, would have been open fields until the late 17th century. It's only 'old' in comparison to New Compton Street (and the supposedly subterranean Little Compton Street). Old Bailey, though, is named for the defensive feature of the Roman walls, and so has its origins almost two millennia ago.
Old Street itself is also truly old. Nobody really knows just how hoary it might be. Our ancestors were calling it Ealdestrate in 1200 and it's very probably of Roman origin.
London's Roman roads
Many other roads in the capital are definitely of that vintage. The key roads out of the Square Mile are all Roman. Bishopsgate, Ludgate, Aldgate, Newgate — all led through Roman gates and are therefore almost 2,000 years old.
Many turn into long, straight A-roads that lead out of the capital, and these too have Roman origins. Edgware Road and Old Kent Road (and their continuations) were both arms of the ancient Watling Street, while the A3 (Borough High Street, Kennington Park Road, Clapham Road etc.) is the old Stane Street to Chichester. The continuation of Bishopsgate up through Shoreditch, Dalston, Stoke Newington and Tottenham (mostly the A10) is the old Ermine Street to Norfolk. There are other examples.
But are any of London's roads pre-Roman?
While the Romans built many roads from scratch, they sometimes upgraded existing trackways that had crossed the land since the stone age.
Watling Street is one example. The route was already ancient when the Romans arrived, connecting Kent with Wales and passing settlements such as the village that would become St Albans. It's hard to know for sure which modern roads follow the exact route of the ancient track, but it's likely that parts of Edgware Road, Old Kent Road and Shooters Hill are of truly ancient vintage.
Watling Street is thought to have met the Thames opposite Westminster, where the pre-industrial river was fordable at low tide. After the Romans came, it was diverted to cross the river at their version of London Bridge. A small section of the route within the Square Mile is called Watling Street to this day.
This fascinating map shows possible routes for the pre- and post-Roman Watling Street.
Here, it's depicted as reaching the Thames to cross to Thorney (the island on which Westminster Abbey was later built), but it's also possible the ford was further south, to link with what is now Horseferry Road. The route it took from Westminster to reach the Edgware Road is entirely lost, but it's possible that Park Lane also follows an ancient alignment.
Other routes across London are known to be of Celtic origin. One such is Harrow Road, which has connected Harrow Hill to Watling Street near what is now Paddington for thousands of years. A plaque on Church Street, Lisson Grove refers to this venerable junction.
But what's the oldest street in London I can actually walk on?
All the old Roman (and pre-Roman) roads have been tarmacked many times over and no physical trace of the original material remains. A few traces do survive here, and there, however. A short section of Roman pathway can be glimpsed in the crypt of St Bride's church on Fleet Street, for example. Another stretch is preserved in the endlessly fascinating church of All Hallow's by the Tower.
These are both museum pieces, but there are a few in-use streets around London that retain very old road surfaces, if not quite Roman. Here and there, one can still find short stretches that use wood-block paving (a topic we'll cover in another article), which probably dates from Victorian times.
However, one stretch of road in Deptford may be even older. The Building London blog recently published an article on Upper Watergate Street — a riverside thoroughfare whose paving may be from the mid-18th century. It is the only street in London we can think of that has true cobbles, as opposed to the more regular stone setts you see in places like Covent Garden.
