The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

to Wiltshire. It follows the

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.

Background

It is generally said to be, within

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

, one of the oldest roads the route of which can still be traced, being one of the few long-distance trackways to have existed before the Romans occupied the country. However, this has been disputed, and the evidence for its being a prehistoric route has been questioned. The name is Celto-British in derivation, and may be named after the Iceni tribe. They may have established this route to permit trade with other parts of the country from their base in East Anglia. It has also been suggested that the road has older prehistoric origins. The name is also said to have been initially used for the part to the west and south (i.e. south of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

) but now refers usually to the track or traces north of the Thames. From ancient times, at least as early as the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

period (before the Roman invasion of 43 AD) and through Anglo-Saxon times, it stretched from Berkshire through Oxfordshire and crossed the

at Cholsey, near Wallingford.

Early documentary evidence

The earliest mentions of the Icknield Way are in Anglo-Saxon charters from the year 903 onwards. The oldest surviving copies were made in the 12th and 13th centuries, and these use the spellings , , , and . The charters refer to locations at Wanborough,

Hardwell Robbert van de Corput (; born January 7, 1988), known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted the world's number one DJ by '' DJ Mag'' in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2022, he was ranked at number 43 ...

in Uffington, Lockinge, Harwell, Blewbury and Risborough, which span a distance of from Wiltshire to Buckinghamshire.

The "Four Highways" of medieval England

The Icknield Way was one of four highways that appear in the literature of the 1130s. Henry of Huntingdon wrote that the

Ermine Street Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London ('' Londinium'') to Lincoln ('' Lindum Colonia'') and York ('' Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earn ...

, Fosse Way, Watling Street and Icknield Way had been constructed by royal authority. The '' Leges Edwardi Confessoris'' gave royal protection to travellers on these roads, and the Icknield Way was said to extend across the width of the kingdom. Geoffrey of Monmouth elaborated the story by saying that Belinus had improved the four roads so that it was clear that they were the protected highways. Around 1250, the Four Highways were shown by Matthew Paris on a diagrammatic map of Britain called ''Scema Britannie''. The Icknield Way is depicted by a straight line from

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

(i.e., Old Sarum) to Bury St Edmunds which intersects the other three roads near

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is t ...

Icknield Street

In the fourteenth century,

Ranulf Higdon Ranulf Higden or Higdon ( – 12 March 1364) was an English chronicler and a Benedictine monk who wrote the ''Polychronicon'', a Late Medieval magnum opus. Higden, who resided at the monastery of St. Werburgh in Chester, is believed to ...

described a different route for the Icknield Way: from Winchester to Tynemouth by way of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, Lichfield,

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, Chesterfield and

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. This route includes the Roman road running from Bourton-on-the-Water to Templeborough near Rotherham, which is now called '' Icknield Street'' (or ''Ryknild Street'') to distinguish it from the ''Icknield Way''.

Route

In many places the track consists or consisted of several routes, particularly as it passes along the line of the

of the Chilterns, probably because of the seasonal usage, and possibly the amount of traffic especially of herds or flocks of livestock. To the west the track can be detected below the escarpments of the Berkshire Downs. Near Wantage, the route along the ridge of the Downs is known as '' The Ridgeway'', and the name ''Icknield Way'' is applied to a parallel lowland route above the spring-line at the northern edge of the chalk. Between Lewknor and Ivinghoe there are two parallel courses known as the ''Lower Icknield Way'' and the ''Upper Icknield Way''. In

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...

, ''Street Way'' (Ashwell Street), ''Ditch Way'' and others have been put forward as variant routes, possibly for use in summer or winter. Many modern roads follow the Icknield Way, such as the B489 from Aston Clinton to Dunstable and the

A505 The A505 is an A-class road in England. It follows part of the route of the Icknield Way and the corresponding Icknield Way Path and runs from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire to the A11 road (England), A11 Abington Interchange North in Cambri ...

from Baldock to Royston. In some places, especially from the east of

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

in Bedfordshire to

Ickleford Ickleford is a large village situated on the northern outskirts of Hitchin in North Hertfordshire in England. It lies on the west bank of the River Hiz and to the east of the main A600 road. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 1,83 ...

(so named from the Way crossing a stream) near Hitchin in Hertfordshire, the route is followed by minor roads, and is not distinguishable at all in many places, except by landscape features such as barrows and mounds which line the route, and indentation presumably from ancient and frequent use. It could be described as a belt studded with archaeological sites found at irregular intervals. The Icknield Way used to form part of the boundary between Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, and at one time Royston was cut in two by this boundary. Royston is where the Icknield Way crosses

. In the south-west some writers take the Way to Exeter, while others only take it as far as Salisbury. To the north-east,

Icklingham Icklingham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located about north-west of Bury St Edmunds, south-east of Mildenhall and south-west of Thetford in Norfolk. The village is on the A1 ...

, Suffolk, and Caistor-by-Norwich, Yarmouth and Hunstanton, Norfolk have all been proposed as the destination. In support of the western route, a road at Dersingham near Hunstanton was named ''Ykenildestrethe'' and ''Ikelynge Street'' in the 13th century.

Modern paths

Modern

long-distance footpaths A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway (landscape), greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking (wilderness), backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-cou ...

have been created from

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset– Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the He ...

on the

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

coast to Holme-next-the-Sea on the

coast, following the general line of the Icknield Way. The Hobhouse Committee report of 1947 suggested the creation of a path between

Seaton Bay Seaton can refer to: Places Antarctica * Seaton Glacier Australia * Seaton, South Australia * Seaton, Victoria Canada * Seaton, Ontario * Seaton House, one of the largest men's homeless shelters located in Toronto, Ontario England * Seaton ...

and the Chiltern ridge, and in 1956 Tom Stephenson proposed a longer route to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. A route through Norfolk was discussed in the 1960s. The first section to be officially designated as a Long-Distance Footpath (as National Trails were then known) was that from

Overton Hill Overton Hill is a 571 ft (174 m) hill at the southern edge of the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire, England. It lies just west of the village of West Overton and about west from the town of Marlborough. The A4 road passes close to the north ...

to Ivinghoe Beacon, and it was declared open as the '' Ridgeway'' in 1973. The Peddars Way, from Knettishall Heath to Holme-next-the-Sea, forms part of the ''Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path National Trail'', which was opened as a Long Distance Route in 1986. Between the Ridgeway and Peddars Way, parts of the original line of the Icknield Way had been covered in tarmac or built over, so a route was devised that avoids walking on roads. In 1992, this was designated by the Countryside Commission as a Regional Route called the '' Icknield Way Path''. The ''

Wessex Ridgeway The Wessex Ridgeway is a long-distance footpath in southwest England. It runs from Marlborough in Wiltshire to Lyme Regis in Dorset, via the northern edge of Salisbury Plain and across Cranborne Chase AONB. The footpath was opened in 1994. At ...

'' from Lyme Regis to Marlborough was declared open by Dorset County Council in 1994.

Charles Thurstan Shaw Chief Charles Thurstan Shaw CBE FBA FSA (27 June 1914 – 8 March 2013)

, archaeologist and long-distance walker, founded the Icknield Way Association which campaigned to reopen the entire Icknield Way as a long-distance path in 1984, the same year he produced the first walker's guide to the route. The author Ray Quinlan has combined most of the Wessex Ridgeway, the Ridgeway National Trail, the Icknield Way Path, the Peddars Way, and a small part of the

Norfolk Coast Path The Norfolk Coast Path is a long-distance footpath in Norfolk, running 83 miles (133.5 km) from Hunstanton to Hopton-on-Sea. It was opened in 1986 and covers the North Norfolk Coast AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). It links with ...

to form a path that he calls the '' Greater Ridgeway'', with a length of approximately from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton. Parts of the Ridgeway National Trail and the Icknield Way Path are only usable as a footpath, so the ''Icknield Way Path Riders Route'' or
Icknield Way Trail
' have been created for horseriders and cyclists. The route runs from Bledlow to Roudham Heath, where it joins the
Peddars Way Riders Route
'.

Artists and writers on the Way

The Icknield Way has inspired a number of writers and artists. Spencer Gore, the founder of the

Camden Town Group The Camden Town Group was a group of English Post-Impressionist artists founded in 1911 and active until 1913. They gathered frequently at the studio of painter Walter Sickert in the Camden Town area of London. History In 1908, critic Frank ...

of artists, painted the route in 1912 while staying with his friend

Harold Gilman Harold John Wilde Gilman (11 February 187612 February 1919) was a British painter of interiors, portraits and landscapes, and a founder-member of the Camden Town Group. Early life and studies Harold John Wilde Gilman was the second son and ...

at Letchworth. His work, influenced by Cézanne, Van Gogh and

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fro ...

, is acknowledged as one of the pioneering works of British

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

. One of the best known literary travellers of the Icknield Way is the poet Edward Thomas, who walked the path in 1911 and published his account in 1913. Thomas was interested in ancient roads and inspired by

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. ...

's ''Old Road'' and other travel memoirs published by Constable written by R. Hippisley Cox, Harold J.E. Peake and others. Although the book takes the form of a single 10-day journey, Thomas wrote the book in stages over the course of a year. He was often joined by his brother Julian, both rising at 5 am or 6 am to walk a day. Although more interested in poetic description, his publisher directed him to give more concrete details of his route, thus the book is closer to being a guidebook than Thomas' earlier, more poetic, travel books. Inspired by Thomas's journey, contemporary British nature writer, Robert MacFarlane, begins his book of walking ancient paths, ''The Old Ways'', by walking the Icknield Way, "hoping to summon him homasby walking where he had walked". George R. R. Martin used the "Four Highways" as the model for the Kingsway in his '' A Song of Ice and Fire'' novels.Higgs, John (2017)
''Watling Street: Travels Through Britain and Its Ever-Present Past''
Hachette UK. .p.47. The first episode of the 2016-17 documentary series ''

Britain's Ancient Tracks with Tony Robinson ''Britain's Ancient Tracks with Tony Robinson'' is a television documentary series presented by Sir Tony Robinson. The first series, consisting of three episodes, was broadcast in 2016 by Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air publi ...

'' was about the Icknield Way and included drone views of the trail.

References

{{reflist, refs= Buckinghamshire County Council
The Icknield Way
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607202954/http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/Ridgeway/uploads/The%20Icknield%20Way.pdf , date=7 June 2011 . R. Bradley
''Solent Thames Research Assessment – the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age''
2008. W.G. Clarke ''In Breckland Wilds'', Heffer, Cambridge; 2nd edition, 1937; p.67. S. Harrison, "The Icknield Way: some queries", ''The Archaeological Journal'', 160, 1–22, 2003.

Icknield Way Morris Men Icknield Way Morris Men is a Cotswold Morris Dancing team based in Wantage, Oxfordshire. As a member of the Morris Ring, Icknield Way's members are all male. History of the side Icknield Way Morris Men was formed by pupils at Icknield School i ...

Prehistory – Ancient Paths
S. Jennett, ''The Ridgeway Path'', HMSO for Countryside Commission (Long-Distance Footpath Guide 6), 1976, {{ISBN, 0-11-700743-9. Long Distance Walkers Association
Icknield Way Trail
K. Matthews,
Circular Walk (Wilbury Hill, Ickleford, Cadwell, Wilbury Hill)
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513203607/http://www.north-herts.gov.uk/wilbury_walk.pdf , date=13 May 2008 ''. A. Mawer and F. M. Stenton, ''The Place-names of Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire'', English Place-name Society 3, 1926, {{ISBN, 0-904889-47-5, pp. 4–5.

Cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

Nero D.i, f186v. The map is discussed on pages 62–63 of O. Roucoux, ''The Roman Watling Street: from London to High Cross'', Dunstable Museum Trust, 1984, {{ISBN, 0-9508406-2-9. R. Quinlan, ''The Greater Ridgeway: A Walk along the Ancient Route from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton'', Cicerone, 2003, {{ISBN, 1-85284-346-2. Quinlan, ''The Greater Ridgeway'', pp. 16, 100. Rhiannon,
The Icknield Way: Miscellaneous
', 2008. E. Thomas
''The Icknield Way''
Constable, 1916.

External Links

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