Sulloniacis

Sulloniacis is an Ancient Roman place-name which is known only from an entry in Iter II of the Antonine Itinerary. The itinerary places Sulloniacis nine Roman miles from St Albans ('Verolamio') and 12 miles from London. The place so named is usually identified with Roman remains found at Brockley Hill, Stanmore, near Edgware, on the main Roman road from St Albans to London, known to us as Watling Street.

Another possible reference to Sulloniacis may be found in Silk Stream, the name of a tributary of the River Brent which rises from springs on Brockley Hill and runs through Edgware and Burnt Oak.

The name is often alternatively given as Sulloniacae.

Origin of the name

According to the reference the name means 'Estate of the family/descendants of Sullonios', Sullonios being a personal name which is not known from any other source.^[1]

Other possible locations

Although there are certainly Roman remains at Brockley Hill, they are of kilns where ceramic products were produced from the clay found there, and no traces of a settlement or mansio (official way-station whose presence is implied by the Itinerary entry) are known. Besides, although there are great difficulties in interpreting some of the mileages in the Itineraries, Brockley Hill does seem to be too far to the North. An alternative location is at Red Hill, now in Burnt Oak, Edgware, on Watling Street Roman road, close to the modern Redhill Drive.^[2] Roman remains have been found at Burnt Oak,^[3] and it has been postulated that the Bald Faced Stag Public House on the Roman road may be the modern descendant of the Mansio.

Other possible locations exist along Watling Street between Brockley Hill and Burnt Oak, but in the absence of archaeological or historical evidence the actual location will remain a mystery. It is however possible that all these locations were within the estate called Sulloniacis, together with a possible Roman occupation site nearby on the hill at Hendon ^[3].

References