A1-The Great North Road
Thence to Ware, where maize Amwell
Mildly cuts the Southerne Channell;
Rivers streaming, banks resounding,
Middleton with wealth abounding;
Mightily did these delight me;
'O, I wish'd them Aqua vitae!'
Thence to Wademill, where I rest me
For a pot, for I thirstie;
On me cryde they and did hout me,
And like Beetles flockt about me:
'Buya whip, Sr! No, a Laddle;
'Where's your horse, Sr? where your saddle?'
Richard Braithwaite, Barnabees Journall, His Northern Journey, Third Part
On the Old North Road, Johnson describes the bridge over the Rib at Wadesmill as one of the finest in the county: It is of grey brick, 31 ft wide and with two semicircular arches of 25 ft span resting centrally on seven round stone pillars which, by allowing light to penetrate the underside of the arches, give the whole structure an agreeably buoyant aspect. Until 1966, when a large section was destroyed by a lorry, it retained its original latticed iron side rails. It was built in 1825 by Brough & Smith, London, on the order of the Cheshunt Trust, although, as a county bridge, its cost was shared by the justices.
The site of a Mesolithic settlement, 5-10 000 years ago, Bronze age beaker-ware at Ware and Iron-age fortifications suggest a long history of perhaps continuous settlement before the Romans built their Ermine Street to cross the River Lea here. Saxon pottery and a 7th century coin predate Ware's (albeit temporary) frontier town status in the mid 9th century between the Saxon and Viking worlds.
The Roman Ermine Street ran through Ware and straight, a little east of northwards, through the small villages of Wadesmill, High Cross and Colliers End to Puckeridge. This route was known as the Old North Road in the coaching era when the Great North Road, running further west through Stevenage, became more popular with the coach operators. Eventually to become the A10, the Wadesmill to Colliers End section has been reluctant to give up its Roman roots. It remained a single carriageway despite dualling to the north and south but a by-pass was constructed in 2003. Although apparently completed by November and with a planned opening date in December, subsidence of the road bed has delayed the opening while tests and possibly extensive remedial work is carried out. Opening is now expected by August 2004.
Lincolnshire
©Biff Vernon 2002, 2004, 2005