Dere Street

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Dere Street or Deere Street, (latterly Via Regia in Scotland) was a Roman Road between York and Scotland. It still exists in the form of the route of many major roads, including the A1 and A68 just north of Corbridge.

Its name corresponds with the post Roman Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Deira through which the majority of its route lies.

The route crossed the River Nidd near Aldborough, the River Ure near Catterick, the River Tees near Piercebridge, the River Wear near Bishop Auckland, the River Tyne near Corbridge. At Corbridge, the route passed through the fortifications of Hadrian's Wall and passed into lands that were only tenuously under Roman domination.

The route continued into Redesdale and thence to the Cheviot hills, where there are the remains of marching forts at Fourlaws, West Woodburn, High Rochester, and at Chew Green.

[edit] Dere Street in Scotland

Crossing the present day Scottish border near the present A68 at Carter Fell, there are the remains of a camp at Pennymuir and well preserved sections of the road as it also forms part of St. Cuthbert's Way to Trimontium near Melrose. Crossing the River Tweed at Trimontium the route follows the Leader Water to the foot of the Lammermuirs, where there evidence of forts near Oxton and another well preserved section of road rises through the Lammermuirs over Soutra hill, and then on to British Din Eidyn, a stronghold of the Votadini tribe, and where the Romans held a strategic garrison at Cramond and at Inveresk to service the eastern end of the Antonine Wall.

In the High Middle Ages, the section of the route between Jedburgh and Edinburgh was known as the Via Regia or royal way, it connected the larger part of Scotland with the important ecclesiastic sites of the Scottish Borders. King Malcolm IV established his Church and Hospital of the Holy Trinity half way along this section to provide succour for the many pilgrims using it. After the destruction of the Border Abbeys during the "Rough wooing" by the Earl of Hertford's forces of Mary Queen of Scots, and the Reformation of the Scottish Church, the route fell into disuse and disrepair; and it was used mainly for driving livestock, and the occasional travellers daring enough to venture into the lawless border region.

[edit] Further reading

• The Roads of Mediaeval Lauderdale, by R. P. Hardie, Edinburgh & London, 1942.

[edit] External links

• Dere street trail (Durham county council)
• A look at some of the ancient roads passing through East Lothian, including a section of Dere Street