A1-The Great North Road
The old road ran along London Road and at the High Street crossed the River Mimram. At this point we are joined by the line of the Roman Road from St. Albans (Verulaneum), which approaches from the south-west along School Lane. From Welwyn High Street, the Great North Road turns to the north-east along Church Street and Roman Road but is now cut off by the A1(M). At the south end of Welwyn the B197 leaves the old line to form Welwyn By Pass Road, which skirts the eastern side of the town, to reach the older route at the Clock Roundabout. From here the B197 turns north-eastwards under the motorway and soon regains the line of the Roman road and the Great North Road to Mardley Hill.
The Welwyn by-pass has become the AI(M), its course passing through, or rather over, the remains of a Roman villa and bath house. Much of the bath house is still intact, preserved in the Welwyn Roman Baths Museum in a vault underneath the motorway. Access is from the A1000 roundabout close to the centre of Welwyn.
At Ayot Green, just south of Welwyn, stands the last remaining toll house on the Hertfordshire section of the Great North Road. Half timbered with brick infilling, it was built about 1728 by the Welwyn turnpike Trust.
From Welwyn, for about a mile north-eastwards, the Great North Road follows the course of a Roman road, but in this case it is not the Ermine Street but a road linking St. Albans (Verulanium), Braughing and Great Chesterfield and then reaching the Via Devana . Here is Margary's description of the road around Welwyn:
School Lane marks it into Welwyn, and then the old main road towards Knebworth; this soon falls into the present Great North Road, which then follows it for 3/4 mile to the foot of Mardley Hill. This is all in one alignment from St Albans, but at this point a turn slightly more to the east was made.
Half a mile further on, to the east of the old Great Northern Railway, the road is quite plain upon its new alignment, pointing slightly north of east to Datchworth Green, for it is still in use as a narrow road. Looking back to the railway the line of the road can be seen crossing a field towards the signal-box as a heavily metalled ridge, and it is fairly obvious that the present road (Robbery Bottom Lane), which here descends very awkwardly into the deep valley to pass under the viaduct, was diverted so when the railway was made. The Roman road line is marked by the edge of the wood on Mardley Hill, and is now obscured by houses, but it fell into the line of the Great North Road at the sharp angle now by-passed, just at the foot of the hill.
| A mile north-east of Welwyn the Great North Road turned sharply northward to climb Mardley Hill, so named as the place where mares were kept, but the turn has been smoothed out for the convenience of 20th century traffic, the old road now being called Lower Mardley Hill. This road sign attempts to unravel the consequent confusion in house numbering. |
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Mardley Hill, now the B197, sweeps gently northwards while the right fork, Lower Mardley Hill, was the original Great North Road. |
| Robbery Bottom Lane is a turning off Lower Mardley Hill.
This leads eastwards to Datchworth Green and follows the line of the Roman
road, except that the western end was realigned when the railway was built.
The valley is spanned by a viaduct, opened on the 8th of August 1850, and
the road was diverted to pass through an arch. This is a small relation of the larger Digswell Viaduct, a couple of miles to the south. For a better appreciation look at this photo by John Houghton. Remember that it was built more than a century and a half before Norman Foster's Millau Viaduct in France. Or if you prefer a French perspectiv... |
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The map shows Welwyn in the south-west corner and the Great
North Road in red. The bend in the centre of the map area is Lower
Mardley Hill, now by-passed by the straightened B197. The green lines
represent Roman roads, the road from St. Albans (Margary No. 21a) being
followed by the Great North Road as far as Mardley Hill, from where the
Roman line turns more easterly and is followed by Robbery Bottom Lane.
Another Roman road (Margary No. 220) running from London through Hatfield to Stevenage, is joined by the Great North Road at Woolmer Green, from where it is followed through Knebworth and past the Roman Six Hills tumuli. |
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Just before reaching Woolmer Green, the Great North Road crosses over the Great Northern Railway. |
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Clibbon's Post, or at least this modern replacement of the original, stands on the road between Bramfield and Bulls Green, over the grave of a highwayman, buried where he was shot during a robbery that did not go quite according to his plan. It stands by the Bulls Green to Bramfield road. Here's a bicycle friendly map showing the Post's exact location and for an account of Clibbon's untimely demise go to Paul Gratham's website about unconsecrated burials. |
Many thanks to Stephen Clementson for providing all the photos and much of the information on this page.
Lincolnshire
©Biff Vernon 2004.
