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
Roman Road, London their front rooms to sell goods and shops lined the Roman Road. A main shopping street evolved and the Roman Road Market which grew probably as early as 1843, when it was illegal 'but withstood several attempts to close it down'. It was certainly recorded as a fully fledged market in 1887 by Booth, who toured the area with the local policeman and reported that 'Roman Road...is one of the great market streets in London. Things to be bought of every sort, even patent leather shoes. Some demand for good quality as well as for cheapness'. The market is the