Stane Street: the Roman Highway in Mole Valley
Green Room Theatre, Reigate Road, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1SG
Stane Street was probably constructed in the AD 50s to provide a direct all-weather route from Chichester to the newly founded trading settlement at London. Popular myth envisages Roman soldiers marching about, imposing Empire, but this is far from the truth. Stane Street linked the two main trading axes into Britain, the Solent and the Thames, as well as the newly established client kingdom of Togidubnus and the rapidly developing new town, already becoming the financial centre of the Roman province. As a major Roman highway, the road was provided with so-called posting stations at regular intervals, including one in the Dorking area,the location of which is still open to question. The posting stations catered for the imperial post system but also served other travellers and business traffic. We can assess some of that traffic from finds on local Roman sites but must fill out the likely picture using evidence from nearby provinces. This talk by Dr David Bird considers the impact of Stane Street even after the Roman Period.
Green Room Theatre, Reigate Road, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1SG
There is one wheelchair space in the theatre which must be pre-booked.