Old Kent Road Old Kent Road Old Kent Road is a major thoroughfare in South East London, England, passing through the London Borough of Southwark. It was originally part of an ancient trackway that was paved by the Romans and used by the Anglo-Saxons who named it Wæcelinga Stræt (Watling Street). It is now part of the A2, a major road from London to Dover. The road was important in Roman times linking London to the coast at Richborough and Dover via Canterbury. It was a route for pilgrims in the Middle Ages as portrayed in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, when Old Kent Road
Old Kent Road scene of celebrations for soldiers returning from the Battle of Agincourt heading towards London. The Kentish Drovers public house opened in 1840 and was so named because the road was a thoroughfare for market traffic. The road was mainly rural in nature, surrounded by fields and windmills and the occasional tavern until the 19th century. John Rocque's Map of London, published in 1746, shows hedgerows along its course. The name Old Kent Road came into use at this time; up to then the road from Borough High Street to the Bricklayers Arms junction was known as Kent Street, this section