Sulloniacis is an Ancient Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 place-name which is known only from an entry in Iter II of the Antonine Itinerary

Antonine Itinerary

The Antonine Itinerary is a register of the stations and distances along the various roads of the Roman empire, containing directions how to get from one Roman settlement to another...

. The itinerary places Sulloniacis nine Roman miles from St Albans ('Verolamio') and 12 miles from London. The place so named is usually identified with Roman remains found at Brockley Hill

Brockley Hill

Brockley Hill, Stanmore, on the outskirts of North London, England, rises to above sea level. The road leading over it is also named Brockley Hill. The area is associated with the archaeological site called Sulloniacis...

, Stanmore

Stanmore

Stanmore is a suburban area of the London Borough of Harrow, in northwest London. It is situated northwest of Charing Cross. The area is home to Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, high.-Toponymy:...

, near Edgware

Edgware

Edgware is an area in London, situated north-northwest of Charing Cross. It forms part of both the London Borough of Barnet and the London Borough of Harrow. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....

, on the main Roman road from St Albans to London, known to us as Watling Street

Watling Street

Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...

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Another possible reference to Sulloniacis may be found in Silk Stream, the name of a tributary of the River Brent

River Brent

The Brent is a river within Greater London which is a tributary of the River Thames. It is 17.9 miles long, running north-east to south-west, and it joins the Thames on the Tideway at Brentford, Hounslow.- Hydronymy and etymology :...

 which rises from springs on Brockley Hill and runs through Edgware and Burnt Oak.

The name is often alternatively given as Sulloniacae.

Origin of the name

According to the reference the name means 'Estate of the family/descendants of Sullonios', Sullonios being a personal name which is not known from any other source.

Other possible locations

Although there are certainly Roman remains at Brockley Hill, they are of kilns where ceramic products were produced from the clay found there, and no traces of a settlement or mansio (official way-station whose presence is implied by the Itinerary entry) are known. Besides, although there are great difficulties in interpreting some of the mileages in the Itineraries, Brockley Hill does seem to be too far to the North. An alternative location is at Red Hill, now in Burnt Oak, Edgware, on Watling Street Roman road, close to the modern Redhill Drive. Roman remains have been found at Burnt Oak, and it has been postulated that the Bald Faced Stag Public House on the Roman road may be the modern descendant of the Mansio.

Other possible locations exist along Watling Street between Brockley Hill and Burnt Oak, but in the absence of archaeological or historical evidence the actual location will remain a mystery. It is however possible that all these locations were within the estate called Sulloniacis, together with a possible Roman occupation site nearby on the hill at Hendon

Hendon

Hendon is a London suburb situated northwest of Charing Cross.-History:Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday , but the name, 'Hendun' meaning 'at the highest hill', is earlier...

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