The Peddars Way is a long distance footpath that passes through

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, England.

Route

The Peddars Way is 46 miles (74 km) long and follows the route of a

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

. It has been suggested by more than one writer that it was not created by the Romans but was an ancient trackway, a branch or extension of the Icknield Way, used and remodelled by the Romans. The name-type, which recurs in medieval records from other parts of East Anglia, derives from Middle English ''pedder'', meaning an itinerant trader. It is first mentioned on a map of 1587 AD. It starts at

Knettishall Heath Knettishall Heath is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Knettishall in Suffolk, England. A larger area of 176 hectares is the Knettishall Heath Nature Reserve, which is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. Despite its n ...

(near the Norfolk-Suffolk border, about east of

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...

), and it links with the Norfolk Coast Path at Holme-next-the-Sea. Combined with the Norfolk Coast Path, it forms the Peddars Way & Norfolk Coast Path National Trail, one of 15 National Trails in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

, and the two paths together run for . It is one of four long distance footpaths which, when combined, run from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton and are referred to as the Greater Ridgeway. At

the Peddars Way links with the Icknield Way Path for 110 miles south west to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire.

Guide and waymarks

A detailed 144-page guide, including 1:25 000 maps from the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

, and described south to north, is published in the series of National Trail Guides. The trail is very well marked with two general types of waymarker along the length of the route. At junctions there are signs marked ‘Peddars Way’ on plain wood fingerposts. Elsewhere white, yellow and green discs are used bearing the acorn sign used on such long-distance routes.

Public transport

The Peddars Way may be accessed by

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

. There is a path linking the southern end, at Knettishall Heath, to the nearby Harling Road railway station. Holme, at the northern end, has a regular bus service to

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

and Hunstanton. Holme also has a regular bus service to Sheringham. Both King's Lynn and Sheringham allow onward connections using their regular rail services.

Folklore

The Peddars Way was traditionally supposed to be a haunt of the ghostly East Anglian hound

Black Shuck In English folklore, Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly Black dog (ghost), black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia, one of many such black dogs recorded in folklore ...

Gallery

Image:Peddars Way Signpost.JPG, Peddars Way signpost Image:Peddars Way - Knettishall Heath.jpg,

Image:Peddars Way - Little Cressingham.jpg, near Little Cressingham Image:Peddars Way - Massingham Heath.jpg, Massingham Heath Image:Peddars Way - Sedgeford.jpg, near Fring Image:Peddars_Way_at_Magazine_Wood_Sedgeford.jpg, by Magazine Wood, Sedgeford

References

External links

National Trails' Peddars Way/Norfolk Coast Path page
{{UK Trails Footpaths in Norfolk Archaeological sites in Norfolk Roman roads in England Long-distance footpaths in England