{{Short description|Roman road in the north of England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Use British English|date=March 2018}} thumb|350px|Roman Roads and settlements thumb|upright=1.2|The Maiden Way, where the track heads southeast to Smittergill Head
The '''Maiden Way''' or '''Maidenway''' (Middle English: ''Maydengathe''; {{langx|la-x-medieval|Via Puellarum}}) was a roughly {{convert|20|mi|km|adj=on}} Roman road in northern Britain connecting the Roman fort of Bravoniacum (Kirkby Thore) near Penrith with that of Magnis (Carvoran) on Hadrian's Wall, via the intermediate fort of Epiacum (also known as Whitley Castle) roughly half-way between the two.
William Bainbridge wrote an early paper on the road, in Archaeologia Aeliana; ''Account of the Roman Road, called the Maiden Way'' (1851).<ref name="Welford">{{cite book|title=Men of Mark 'twixt Tyne and Tweed|first=Richard |last=Welford |date=1895 |url=https://archive.org/details/menmarktwixttyn00welfgoog/page/n192/mode/1up|pages=170-171}}</ref>
In 2016, it was reported that investigations using LIDAR technology by the Environment Agency for the purposes of flood mapping and other environmental management were providing extensive data showing the existence of underground archaeological features including Roman roads. This included a continuation of the Maiden Way southwards from Kirkby Thore to the Roman fort at Low Borrowbridge near Tebay.<ref>{{cite news|title=Lasers reveal 'lost' Roman roads|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lasers-reveal-lost-roman-roads|accessdate=24 February 2018|publisher=gov.uk|date=3 February 2016}}</ref>
Bravoniacum was a waypoint on the northern leg of the Roman road connecting Luguvalium (Carlisle) with Eboracum (York) and points south. Magnis was one of the waypoints on the Stanegate beside Hadrian's Wall. As such, the Maiden Way served as a shortcut for supplying the central and eastern areas of the Wall. It also provided supplies to the lead and silver mines near Epiacum (Whitley Castle).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.northpennines.org.uk/Lists/DocumentLibrary/Attachments/312//AAmodule3a.pdf|title=Altogether Archaeology Fieldwork Module 3a: Maiden Way Roman Road Kirkby Thore Geophyics|publisher=Northern Pennines AONB Partnership|last=Frodsham|first=Paul|date=2013|accessdate=20 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909071407/http://www.northpennines.org.uk/Lists/DocumentLibrary/Attachments/312/AAmodule3a.pdf|archive-date=9 September 2013|url-status=dead}}.</ref>
The Maiden Way was sometimes considered also to have run east along the Stanegate to Banna (Birdoswald), then {{convert|7|mi|km}} north to Bewcastle Roman Fort, and thence to Liddesdale,<ref>{{cite web|title=An Introduction to Roads and Travel in the Anglo-Scottish Borderlands of the Cheviot Region|url=http://www.nnpa.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/147157/cbr-introtoroadsandtravel.pdf|publisher=The Archaeological Practice|date=2009|page=17|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220040244/http://www.nnpa.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/147157/cbr-introtoroadsandtravel.pdf|archivedate=2015-02-20}}</ref><ref name=mitchy/> but the zig-zag identity of this course as a single road is problematic.<ref>{{citation |last=Haverfield |first=Francis John |title=Report of the Cumberland Excavation Committee, 1895 |date=1897 |journal=Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society |volume=XIV (Part II) |pages=428 ff |url=http://www.mocavo.co.uk/Transactions-of-the-Cumberland-Westmorland-Antiquarian-Archaeological-Society-1896-97/960907/192#186 |location=Kendal |publisher=T. Wilson |doi=10.5284/1063789}}</ref><ref>THE MAIDEN WAY. Five Notes. By R. G. COLLINGWOOD. Trans. Cumb. and Westm. Ant. Soc., N.S. 30, pp. 116—17. 1930</ref>
Following the end of Roman rule in Britain, the Maiden Way was used as a drovers' road.<ref name=mitchy>{{cite journal|last=Michie|first=Alexander|title=A Chapter on Old Local Bridges|journal=Transactions of the Hawick Archaeological Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88wGAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA73|page=73|date=1863|location=Hawick|publisher=James Haining & Co.}}</ref> The route was probably named after the Maiden Castle<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/lgaz/lk07563.htm|title=Old Cumbria Gazetteer: Maiden Way|last=Norgate|first=Martin|date=2014|accessdate=20 February 2015|publisher=Portsmouth University|location=Portsmouth|archive-date=15 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515210129/http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/thelakes/html/lgaz/lk07563.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> fortlet guarding the Stainmore Pass to the east of the fort of Verterae (Brough).<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Roxburghshire|title=The Topographical, Statistical, and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland|volume=II|page=624|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIHRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA624|publisher=A. Fullarton & Co.|location=Edinburgh|date=1853}}</ref>
The Pennine Way footpath follows the line of the Maiden Way for several miles on a roughly north-south route across Lambley Common in Northumberland, above the west bank of the river South Tyne. Immediately north of this stretch, a modern minor road follows the line of the Maiden Way for several miles to the west of Featherstone Castle.
==See also== * Roman roads in Britain
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{cite book|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/Topics/Engineering/roads/Britain/_Texts/CODROM/5*.html#13|pages=181–183|title=Roman Roads in Britain|last=Codrington|first=Thomas|date=1903|publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge|chapter=The Maiden Way}} * {{cite web|url=http://www.northpennines.org.uk/pages/TheMaidenWayRomanroad.aspx|title=Altogether Archaeology, Theme 3. The Maiden Way Roman Road|publisher=Northern Pennines AONB Partnership|access-date=19 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219175134/http://www.northpennines.org.uk/pages/TheMaidenWayRomanroad.aspx|archive-date=19 February 2015|url-status=dead}}. * {{cite web|url=http://www.keystothepast.info/article/10339/Site-Details?PRN=N5968|title=Keys to the Past: Maiden Way Roman Road (Knaresdale with Kirkhaugh; Coanwood; Hartleyburn)|publisher=Durham & Northumberland County Councils|access-date=25 February 2018|archive-date=26 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226032451/http://www.keystothepast.info/article/10339/Site-Details?PRN=N5968|url-status=dead}}. * {{cite journal|url=https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-3433-1/dissemination/AASeries1/AA104new/archael104-000-000-PDFs/archael104-036-bainbridge.pdf | title=Account of the Roman Road, called the Maiden Way |journal=Archaeologia Aeliana| series =1 |volume=4 |pages=36-53 |first=William|last=Bainbridge|date=1855}}
{{Coord|54|37|30.03|N|2|33|39.12|W|scale:6250_region:GB|display=title}}
Category:Roman roads in England Category:Roads in Cumbria Category:Roman sites in Cumbria Category:Droving roads