Durocobrivis

Durocobrivis was a Roman town in Britain, standing where Watling Street met the ancient Icknield Way. Its name appears in the Antonine Itinerary as Durocobrivis, a fossilised locative form still used by Ordnance Survey. The settlement covered about fourteen hectares near today’s Dunstable in Bedfordshire. Prehistoric tracks already crossed here before the Romans built a posting station. After the Romans left, Saxons occupied the site from about 571 AD. The modern town of Dunstable now covers the Roman remains. Watling Street, once a Roman road, is today the A5 trunk road. The Icknield Way survives as an old track still walked today. Archaeologists recognise the Roman town only from scattered finds beneath later buildings. The Saxons later gave the place its present name, meaning ‘Dun’s table’. Visitors walk along Watling Street where Roman wheels once rolled. The Icknield Way crosses nearby, a prehistoric route still in use. Few traces of the Roman town remain above ground. A quiet town centre now occupies the site. The past is visible only in scattered stones and old road lines.