A1-The Great North Road
When William Smith, 'Father of Geology', journeyed from the west country, eastwards to York, he realized he was crossing ever younger strata so when he stood atop York Minster tower and pointed eastwards to the Wolds he could claim with a surety that no coal would be found in those hills. The strata of England dip gently eastwards so much of the Great North Road runs over relatively young rocks. And, by and large, young rocks are soft rocks and soft rocks produce gentle landscapes. The gentle rise that Jeannie, in Scott's Heart of Midlothian, met as she approached Grantham is as much as the Jurassic Oolitic Limestone can provide. The Carboniferous Whin Sill and smaller dolerite intrusions give ruggedness to the Carboniferous rocks of Durham and Northumberland. The ancient route, preferred by the Romans, through Piercebridge and Corbridge, passes the serious hills of the Cheviots, reaching a height of 1370 feet at Carter Bar on the Scottish border. The A1's route, established as the favourite in the posting days of the 18th century, hugs the coast, avoiding the uplands. The highest part of the A1 is north of Berwick but never reaches 600 feet.
The road is thus of the lowland. But within the lowland, ancient ways probably kept out of the lowest ground where possible, avoiding the mud of river valleys. Eastern England has half the rain of the west but even so water is the local determinant of routes. In Cambridgeshire the road keeps west of the Fens. In Yorkshire it runs north from Boroughbridge on ground raised a little above the floodplains of the Ure and Swale. Rain on the Pennines heads for the sea and half of it the North Sea, so must cross the Great North Road. The road might be thought of as a series of connected bridges, Starting at the Thames and crossing in turn from south to north the rivers Great Ouse, Nene, Welland, Trent, Don, Wharfe, Nidd, Ure, Swale, Tees, Tyne and Tweed.
The greatest obstacle has been the Trent. Some have sent the Great North Road westwards to cross the Trent at Nottingham. The Romans kept east at first, following the Jurassic Limestone of Lincoln Edge and taking to boats to cross the Humber. Later they turned left just north of Lincoln to ford the Trent at Littleborough. Later still bridges were built near Newark, presaging the modern route but the stretch between Newark and Doncaster has always been difficult with the soft sands and clays making road-building a muddy affair.
©Biff Vernon 2001