Sources for the English medieval road system

This chapter opens by noting the growth of towns and trade in England in the medieval period, which required a fully functioning transport system, of which roads must have been the backbone, supplemented by river and sea-borne trade. It then looks at the different sources available to attempt to describe the national medieval transport network. The first step is to see which Roman roads were still in use, and which later Anglo-Saxon and medieval roads had ‘made and maintained themselves’. Documentary evidence is limited and place-names need to be used with care. The best evidence lies in itineraries (notably those of the kings) and maps (principally the Gough Map). Archaeological evidence is also assessed.