E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Watling Street.
A road extending east and west across South Britain. Beginning at Dover, it ran through Canterbury to London, and thence to Cardigan. The word is a corruption of Vitellina strata, the paved road of Vitellius, called by the Britons Guet’alin. Poetically the “Milky Way” has been called the Watling Street of the sky.
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“Secunda via principalis dicitur Wateling-streate, tendens ab euro-austro in zephyrum septentrionalem. Incipit … a Dovaria … usque Cardigan.”—Leland.
