Old Kent Road a Celtic ancient trackway that was paved by the Romans and recorded as Inter III on the Antonine Itinerary. The Anglo-Saxons named it "Wæcelinga Stræt" (Watling Street). It joined Stane Street another ancient and Roman road at Southwark before crossing the Thames at London Bridge. The Inter III was one of the most important Roman roads in Britain, linking London with Canterbury and the Channel ports at Richborough ("Rutupiae"); Dover ("Dubris") and Lympne ("Lemanis"). Pilgrims, as documented in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, travelled along the road from London and Southwark on their way to Canterbury. In 1415, the road was a
New Kent Road eastward for a few hundred yards to the junction of Great Dover Street and Tower Bridge Road, known as Bricklayers' Arms, where it joins the original route to the south-east Old Kent Road (the A2). The road forms part of the London Inner Ring Road and as such forms part of the boundary of the London congestion charge zone. New Kent Road is designated the A201 which, to the north-west past the Elephant and Castle, becomes London Road. In 1878, historian Edward Walford noted that the New Kent Road was formerly named Greenwich Road, and explained that "[it] is a