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Harold Wood, Romford Durolitum - The Strong Lodge

In the town of Harold Wood, Romford was a Posting Station, but not a large settlement this is on the Colchester to London and Bradwell-on-sea roads

It appears from the Latin translation of the word that the Roman name for Romford, Durolitum - The Strong Lodge, refers to the posting station itself. These stations were known as mutationes, and generally resembled a large, quasi-military coaching-inn where officials on imperial business could obtain fresh horses and refreshment before continuing upon their journey

When plotted on a map, the distances seem to suggest that the posting-station is on the A12 between Romford and Brentwood, somewhere near the Harold Wood railway station. Durolitum then, would seem to have been positioned close to the ford over Paines Brook, a tributary of the Ingrebourne River, though it is unknown on which bank of the stream the station was actually constructed.

The standard long-distance measure used by the Romans was the mile There is evidence that the Romans did use some form of pedometer, basically a wheel with a circumference of a standard passus, which was five Roman feet, about 4 ft. 10 ins. imperial measure or about 1.48 m in the metric system. (Excellent I knew I was 5 feet tall)