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Icknield Way
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.
It is generally said to be, within Great Britain, 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) but now refers usually to the track or traces north of the Thames.
From ancient times, at least as early as the Iron Age period (before the Roman invasion of 43 AD) and through early medieval times, it stretched from Berkshire through Oxfordshire and crossed the River Thames at Cholsey, near Wallingford.
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 Ic(c)enhilde weġ, Icenhylte, Icenilde weġ, Ycenilde weġ and Icenhilde weġ. The charters refer to locations at Wanborough, Hardwell in Uffington, Lockinge, Harwell, Blewbury and Risborough, which span a distance of 40 miles (64 km) from Wiltshire to Buckinghamshire.
The Icknield Way was one of four highways that appear in the literature of the 1130s. Henry of Huntingdon wrote that the Ermine Street, 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 (i.e., Old Sarum) to Bury St Edmunds which intersects the other three roads near Dunstable.
In the fourteenth century, Ranulf Higdon described a different route for the Icknield Way: from Winchester to Tynemouth by way of Birmingham, Lichfield, Derby, Chesterfield and York. 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.
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Icknield Way
The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.
It is generally said to be, within Great Britain, 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) but now refers usually to the track or traces north of the Thames.
From ancient times, at least as early as the Iron Age period (before the Roman invasion of 43 AD) and through early medieval times, it stretched from Berkshire through Oxfordshire and crossed the River Thames at Cholsey, near Wallingford.
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 Ic(c)enhilde weġ, Icenhylte, Icenilde weġ, Ycenilde weġ and Icenhilde weġ. The charters refer to locations at Wanborough, Hardwell in Uffington, Lockinge, Harwell, Blewbury and Risborough, which span a distance of 40 miles (64 km) from Wiltshire to Buckinghamshire.
The Icknield Way was one of four highways that appear in the literature of the 1130s. Henry of Huntingdon wrote that the Ermine Street, 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 (i.e., Old Sarum) to Bury St Edmunds which intersects the other three roads near Dunstable.
In the fourteenth century, Ranulf Higdon described a different route for the Icknield Way: from Winchester to Tynemouth by way of Birmingham, Lichfield, Derby, Chesterfield and York. 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.