The 'Via Devana' - a 'lost road' found! (Pt1)
The name Via Devana was coined by the 18th century Cambridge antiquarian Dr Charles Mason and was said to be a route which connected Roman Colchester (Camulodunum) to Roman Chester (Deva) [1] . Ivan Margary [2] described the route from Godmanchester (Durovigutum) to Colchester as 'Via Devana' and numbered it road 24. Early Ordnance Survey (O.S.) maps show what was the Cambridge Road, then the A1198 and now largely the A1307/A14 Godmanchester to Cambridge road as 'Via Devana'. The route follows a track known as 'Worsted' or 'Wool Street' which runs south from Cambridge as green lanes and tracks. At Worsted Lodge on the modern A11 it crossed a Romanised section of the ancient 'Icknield Way'. In 1959 a 10.5-mile (16.8km) length of gas main was laid along Worsted Street, the work being monitored by the archaeologist P.C. Dewhurst [3] . The trenching machine used produced a clean 3' (0.91m) deep trench, which allowed observation of the Roman ro