Margary numbers

Margary numbers constitute the numbering scheme developed by the historian Ivan Margary to catalogue known and suspected Roman roads in Britain in his 1955 work The Roman Roads of Britain.[1] They remain the standard means used by archaeologists and historians to identify individual Roman roads within Britain.[1] It is not known how the Romans identified the roads they built within Britain, and well-known names such as Watling Street and the Fosse Way largely date from the Anglo-Saxon period, are sometimes ambiguous or duplicated, and cover only a small proportion of the known network.[2]

Margary's numbering system follows similar conventions to modern road numbering systems.[1] He divided roads into three categories: Main Routes are given single-digit numbers, Principal Branches two-digit numbers and Minor Branches three digit numbers.[3] Individual sections of longer routes are identified by adding letters to the route number, for example Dere Street (Margary 8) is divided into sections 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d and 8e.[1] Double letters are sometimes used to indicate parallel or alternative routes.[2] Lesser roads in particular areas are given similar numbers - for example many roads in Wales have numbers in the 60s.[2]

Margary's cataloguing system has been criticised as being essentially arbitrary in several respects.[4] Margary's hierarchy of routes is not necessarily that of the original designers or users of the network.[5] Evidence for whether the Romans considered different lengths of road to form parts of a single route can be ambiguous, so the fact that they are given a single Margary number can be misleading.[1] Margary's network also largely consists of roads built by the Romans, not necessarily roads used by the Romans, who may have continued to use native British trackways.[6]

Margary's system is nonetheless widely used for its practicality,[4] and the awarding of a Margary number to a route came to be considered a hallmark of authenticity among researchers in the field.[7]

Main routes and principal branches
Margary number Traditional name Route[8]
1 Watling Street Dover – (1a) – Canterbury – (1b) – Rochester – (1c) – London – (1d) – St. Albans – (1e) – Towcester – (1f) – High Cross – (1g) – Wall – (1h) – Wroxeter
2 Ermine Street London – (2a) – Braughing – (2b) – Chesterton – (2c) – Lincoln – (2d) – Brough – (2e) – York
3 Great Road/Pye Road London – (3a) – Chelmsford – (3b) – Colchester – (3c) – Baylham – (3d) – Caistor St Edmund
4 Port Way London – (4a) – Silchester – (4b) – Old Sarum – (4c) – Badbury Rings – (4d) – Dorchester – (4e) – Poole Harbour – (4f) – Exeter
5 Fosse Way Axmouth – (5a) – Ilchester – (5b) – Bath – (5c) – Cirencester – (5d) – High Cross – (5e) – Leicester – (5f) – Lincoln
6 Watling Street (West) Chester – (6a) – Wroxeter – (6b) – Leintwardine – (6c) – Monmouth – (6d) – Chepstow
7 Chester – (7a) – Manchester – (7b) – Ribchester – (7c) – Low Barrow Bridge – (7d) – Brougham – (7e) – Carlisle – (7f) – Crawford – (7g) – Cramond
8 Dere Street York – (8a) – Aldborough – (8b) – Catterick Bridge – (8c) – Binchester – (8d) – Corbridge – (8e) – High Rochester – (8f) – Newstead – (8g) – Dalkeith
9 Camelon – (9a) – Strageath – (9b) – Kirriemuir
10 Canterbury – Richborough
11 Canterbury – Upstreet
12 Stone Street Canterbury – Lympne
13 Rochester – Hastings
14 London – Lewes
15 Stane Street London – Chichester
16 Akeman Street St. Albans – (16a) – Alchester – (16b) – Cirencester
17 Norton – Duston
18 Ryknild Street Bourton-on-the-Water – (18a) – Alcester – (18b) – Wall – (18c) – Little Chester – (18d) – Chesterfield – (18e) – Rotherham
19 Stretton – Whitchurch
21 St. Albans – (21a) – Braughing – (21b) – Worsted Lodge
22 Braughing – Godmanchester
23 Akeman Street Arrington – (23a) – Cambridge – (23b) – Littleport
24 Via Devana Godmanchester – Sible Hedingham
25 The Fen Road Upton – Denver
26 King Street Ailsworth – Ancaster
27 Lincoln – Burgh-le-Marsh
28 Lincoln – (28a) – Doncaster – (28b) – Tadcaster – (28c) – York
29 South Newbould – Malton
30 Clapton – Great Dunmow
31 Bradwell on Sea
32 Stane Street Braughing – Colchester
33 Peddars Way Chelmsford – (33a) – Ixworth – (33b) – Holme next the Sea
34 Wixoe – (34a) – Baylham – (34b) – Peasenhall
35 Pulham St. Mary – Peasenhall
36 Stone Street Halesworth – Woodton
37 Bunwell – Thetford
38 Halesworth – Woodton
39 Toftrees – Holkham
41 Ermin Street Silchester – (41a) – Speen – (41b) – Cirencester – (41c) – Gloucester
42 Silchester – (42a) – Winchester – (42b) – Bitterne
43 Winchester – Wanborough
44 Old Sarum – Mildenhall
45 Winchester – (45a) – Old Sarum – (45b) – Charterhouse
46 Badbury Rings – Kingston Deverall
47 Dorchester – Ilchester
48 Dorchester – Weymouth
49 Charmouth – Exeter
51 Ilchester – Puriton
52 Bath – Frome
53 Speen – Bath
54 Bath – Sea Mills
55 White Way Cirencester – Hailes
56 Finmere – (56a) – Eatington – (56b) – Droitwich
57 Huntingdon – (57a) – Leicester – (57b) – Mancetter
58 Six Hills – (58a) – Grantham – (58b) – Donington
60 Newnham – (60a) – Caerleon – (60b) – Cardiff – (60c) – Neath – (60d) – Carmarthen
61 Gloucester – Mitcheldean
62 Sarn Helen (East) Caerleon – (62a) – Brecon – (62b) – Llandovery – (62c) – Llanfair Clydogau
63 Stretton Grandison – (63a) – Kenchester – (63b) – Brecon
64 Wroxeter – Trefeglwys
66 Chester – (66a) – Caer Gai – (66b) – Dolgellau
67 Chester – (67a) – St. Asaph – (67b) – Caerhun – (67c) – Caernarfon
68 Caernarfon – Caer Gai
69 Sarn Helen Caerhun – (69a) – Tomen y Mur – (69b) – Pennal – (69c) – Llanio – (69d) – Carmarthen
70 King Street Sandbach – (70a) – Warrington – (70b) – Wigan – (70c) – Preston – (70d) – Lancaster
71 The Street Little Chester – (71a) – Buxton – (71b) – Manchester
72 Ribchester – (72a) – Ilkley – (72b) – Tadcaster
73 Ingleton – Brough by Bainbridge
74 High Street Brougham – Troutbeck
75 Carlisle – Egremont
76 Lockerbie – Lochmaben
77 Well Path Crawford – Dalswinton
78 Roberton – (78a) – Castledykes – (78b) – Glasgow
79 Peebles – (79a) – Castledykes – (79b) – Loudoun Hill
80 Barmby – (80a) – Durham – (80b) – Newcastle upon Tyne
81 Wade's Causeway York – (81a) – Malton – (81b) – Whitby
82 Scotch Corner – Brougham
83 Willington – Durham
84 Maiden Way Kirkby Thore – Carvoran
85 Stanegate Corbridge – (85a) – Carvoran – (85b) – Carlisle
86 Military Way Wallsend – (86a) – Portgate – (86b) – Carvoran – (86c) – Carlisle – (86d) – Bowness-on-Solway
87 Devil's Causeway Bewclay – Tweedmouth
88 High Rochester – Whittingam
89 Lockerbie – Newstead
90 The Military Way Bridgeness – Old Kilpatrick
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References
  1. Davies 2008, p. 46.
  2. Davies 2002, p. 168.
  3. Bishop 2014, p. 138.
  4. Davies 2002, p. 24.
  5. Bishop 2014, p. 120.
  6. Bishop 2014, p. 121.
  7. Bagshawe 1979, pp. 9-10.
  8. Bishop 2014, pp. 138-139.

Bibliography
  • Bagshawe, Richard W. (1979). Roman Roads. Oxford: Shire Publications. ISBN 9780852634585.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Bishop, M. C. (2014). The Secret History of the Roman Roads of Britain and their Impact on Military History. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. ISBN 9781473837256. Retrieved 27 October 2015.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Davies, Hugh (2002). Roads in Roman Britain. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 9780752425030.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Davies, Hugh (2008). Roman Roads in Britain. Oxford: Shire Books. ISBN 9780747806905.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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