Old North Road

Ermine Street
Route of Ermine Street
Route information
Length:	193 mi (311 km)
Time period:	Roman Britain
Major junctions
From:	Londinium
	Durovigutum, Durobrivae, Causennae, Lindum, Petuaria
To:	Eboracum

Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London (Londinium) to Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) and York (Eboracum). The Old English name was "Earninga Straete" (1012), named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston, Hertfordshire. "Armingford", and "Arrington" share the same Old English origin. The original Roman name for the route is unknown. It is also known as the Old North Road from London to where it joins the A1 Great North Road near Godmanchester.

Ermine Street begins at Bishopsgate, where one of the seven gates in the wall surrounding Roman London was located. From here it runs north up Norton Folgate, Shoreditch High Street and Kingsland Road through Stoke Newington (forming Stoke Newington Road and Stoke Newington High Street), Tottenham, Edmonton and Eastern Enfield (Ponders End, Enfield Highway, Enfield Wash and Freezywater) to Royston. This section of Ermine Street from London to Royston, Hertfordshire is now largely part of the A10. At this point it crosses the Icknield Way. From Royston, it was formerly the A14 to the A1 but now it is the A1198 to Godmanchester (Durovigutum). Ignoring bypasses and modern diversions, the road through Huntingdon to the Alconbury junction on the A1 gives the line. The section from Alconbury to Water Newton, ignoring modern bypasses such as that at Stilton, follows the A1. Ermine street used to pass through Durobrivae, the slight remains of which can be seen to the east, alongside the A1 at Peterborough. The modern road returns to Ermine Street north-west of Stamford, near Great Casterton, through which Ermine Street ran.