A1-The Great North Road
Three Roman roads converged on Bracebridge Heath, on the southern outskirts of Lincoln, two roads from Sleaford and Ermine Street from Ancaster. The Fosse Way, coming from Newark, joined closer to the town centre. The Carr Dyke, a great Roman canal, skirted the fen edge from Cambridgeshire to Lincoln. Northwards, Ermine Street continued along the high ground of Lincoln Edge to the banks of the Humber by Winteringham, from which the Roman Great North Road took the ferry to Brough. Just north of Lincoln, an alternative route headed west to cross the River Trent at Littleborough or Segelocum.
But all this communication between south and north did not start with the Romans. At Navenby, on Ermine Street about halfway between Ancaster and Lincoln, there is a Bronze-Age cemetery and Iron age settlement as well as evidence of much Roman occupation. The Navenby web-page of The Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire has some information about local building stone along with other local gems.
High Bridge is the oldest bridge in England to have houses built upon it. The structure dates from the 12th century
Leslie Thomas, in his introduction to The Hidden Places of Britain, says that "...a chapter to be called 'Ermine Street' about the Roman road that climbs straight as a ladder north of Lincoln, went unwritten after a preliminary exploration. Airfields and bungalows were responsible for my change of mind, which was a pity for some of the hamlets are suitably sleepy and Ermine Street itself runs for many miles with few interruptions, one of those being a village interestingly called Spital-in-the-Street."
©Biff Vernon 2002