Birmingham hospital road named after the 'wrong' Roman road
It is a blunder of historic proportions and may leave people wondering what the city’s highways department has ever done for us.
Birmingham City Council has named a new highway, built to whisk patients to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, after the wrong Roman road.
The New Fosse Way links Selly Oak to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and follows the well-trodden path along which Roman legions marched to Metchley Fort.
But the Roman road which does pass through Birmingham is Icknield Street, which took the legions from Gloucestershire to Derby, following much of the modern day A38 route.
It is already commemorated in Icknield Street in Hockley, while an original part of the road still exists in Sutton Park.
The city council transport department said the name, although not strictly accurate, represents its Roman heritage in a more general way.
The original Fosse Way, along which Roman settlers travelled from Exeter to Lincoln, passes through the Midlands via the Cotswolds and most famously Leicester – but not Birmingham.
Dr Roger White, lecturer in Roman archaeology at the University of Birmingham, said: “While I am delighted they have recognised Metchley Fort, it is misleading to call it Fosse Way.
"We don’t know what the Romans called the street, the name Icknield came much later. But what we know from Italy is that roads were named after the consul or general who made them – hence the Appian Way or Via Appia is named after Appius. It would have been more accurate to use the name of a Roman emperor or general.”
History buff Graham Smith, a retired engineering lecturer, is among those to complain and is calling on the council to rename the road New Icknield Street before the mistake is recorded on maps.
He said: “It is widely known that the Roman Road in Selly Oak is Icknield Street, it is even marked on Ordnance Survey Maps.
"Who decided on the wrong name and who approved it? It shows a total lack of understanding by the council of Birmingham’s cultural heritage. This at a time when the city wants to be a City of Culture. Metchley Roman Fort and the Roman road in Sutton Park should be part of the city’s cultural trail.”
The New Fosse Way is part of a £9 million package of road improvements for the new QE Hospital. Council head of transportation strategy Doug Hyde said residents were asked for suggestions at council ward meetings earlier this year.
He said: “The road name was chosen because of the Roman connection with the Metchley Roman Fort. This was as an acknowledgement of the Roman link as opposed to a direct duplication of the old road from Exeter through the Cotswolds to Lincoln.
"Hence the inclusion of the word ‘New’.”
