Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.

[Renatus]

most of Roman Southwark was destroyed by fire at the same time as the main city. So the rebels did cross south of the river, either by bridge or by ford, and the Thames was not an impassable barrier or a moat, and anyone hoping for safety on the southern bank would have been sorely disappointed!

Well said.  I couldn't agree more.

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And, I do hope, on reflection, that you will change the "is entirely irrelevant to the movements and actions of Suetonius." because you've already admitted that he would be under political pressure from those escaping south.

I have done nothing of the sort.

If we look at the Wash-Dee line, which would have been the "front line" before Boudica (~50AD), we see that Lincoln is the main fort, toward the east where it is easy to supply from Gaul, but there is no obvious development of a line.

The next narrowing of Britain with a major river is the Humber (If I remember corrected, derives from old English for border). This would have been the "frontline" some time after the Boudican revolt. The major fort here is at York (~71AD), on a major river tributary of the Humber, this is also the most southerly Brigantes settlement as listed by Ptolemy. West of here is a line of forts heading to the river Ribble (Preston).

Before the period of consolidation under Hadrian, these would represent jumping-off points for further expansion.