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
A38 road does not follow the line of the Roman road in the same direction until it picks up the Roman line, just south of Martin Hussingtree. The Roman road took a more direct line over Rainbow Hill and through Blackpole, now B4550. From Martin Hussingtree, the A38 closely follows the Roman line to beyond Bromsgrove. The present road deviates from its line when it was originally classified at Droitwich where the main road is a bypass, the old road now mostly being B4090. This happens again at Bromsgrove, where A38 is again a bypass, the old line mostly now being B4091