Rykeneld Street or Ryknield Street was a

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

which ran through the northern Midlands of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from Deva (

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

) to Derventio (

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

) via what is now

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

. It is not to be confused with the

Icknield Street Icknield Street or Ryknild Street is a Roman road in England, with a route roughly south-west to north-east. It runs from the Fosse Way at Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire () to Templeborough in South Yorkshire (). It passes through Alc ...

. It has in the past also been called by Victorian antiquarians the "Via Devina". The territory traversed would have been that of the

Cornovii The Cornovii is the name by which two, or three, tribes were known in Roman Britain. One tribe was in the area centred on present-day Shropshire, one was in Caithness in northernmost Scotland, and there was probably one in Cornwall. The name has a ...

Route

Beginning at

the road ran south-east to a known Roman fort structure at Chesterton in North Staffordshire (partly excavated with modern methods from 1969 to 1971). It then ran through

Wolstanton Wolstanton is a suburban town on the outskirts of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. History The Roman road the Rykeneld Street passed through Wolstanton. Wolstanton is mentioned in the Norman Domesday book where it is listed amongst the ...

, as discovered when the Marsh was partly drained in the 1870s, then in a major educational excavation in the 1960s, and a lesser one in 1995. :"The road surface was made up of thick sandstone blocks, on a foundation of a thick layer of clay on gravel. The road was 20 feet wide between the kerbstones. The surface had been repaired at some time with pebbles in one area."Stoke-on-Trent Museums website, "Roman Roads"
The road then ran from Wolstanton along the valley ridge to drop down into the often-flooded Fowlea Valley. Local historians suspect that the road dropped into the valley at Basford to meet a raised causeway across the valley bottom at Etruria. From there it reached the site of the modern

Stoke-on-Trent railway station Stoke-on-Trent railway station is a mainline railway station serving the city of Stoke-on-Trent, on the Stafford to Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line. It also provides an interchange between local services running through Cheshire, ...

. The road then crossed the young

River Trent The Trent is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midland ...

and ran down Lane Delph (now the end of the modern King Street, Fenton), toward

Normacot Normacot is an area of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, in the county of Staffordshire, England. Notable buildings include the church of the Holy Evangelists by Scott. The district used to be served by Normacot railway station, but although the Crewe ...

. There is documentary evidence in the 1223 foundation charter of the Abbey of Hulton in Stoke-on-Trent which names the (then still existing) Rykeneld Street as a boundary of the lands at Normacot assigned to the Abbey. The road then ran to

Blythe Bridge Blythe Bridge is a village in Staffordshire, England, south-east of Stoke-on-Trent. Etymology Blythe Bridge is so called as it is built around the site of a bridge over the River Blithe (spelt differently from the name of the village itself), a ...

and on to

Uttoxeter Uttoxeter ( , ) is a market town in the East Staffordshire district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is near to the Derbyshire county border. It is situated from Burton upon Trent, from Stafford, from Stoke-on-Trent, from De ...

. The line of the road at Uttoxeter was described and traced by Francis Redfern (1873). The road then went through

Burton-upon-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The d ...

to reach Derby.

Related structures and finds

Various Roman relics have been found along the route in North Staffordshire, including a well-preserved updraught pottery kiln at Trent Vale in Stoke-on-Trent with supporting coin and pottery finds. A Roman hoard was found at Longton, on the line of the road through Stoke-on-Trent, in 1960. The Roman fort at Chesterton has already been mentioned. There was also a large specialised industrial centre near to Chesterton at Holditch, possibly of independent miners and metalworking artisans supplying the passing military trade on the Rykeneld Street. For a detailed summary account of the excavations and evidence for this settlement see Burnham and Watcher (1990).Barry C. Burnham, J. S. Wacher. ''The small towns of Roman Britain'', University of California Press, 1990, pp. 217-222.

References

{{Reflist Roman roads in England Transport in Staffordshire Roads in Derbyshire Archaeological sites in Staffordshire Archaeological sites in Cheshire