Icknield Way Path
Encyclopedia
- This page refers to the modern footpath Icknield Way Path which follows part of the course of the older Icknield WayIcknield WayThe Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern England. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.-Background:...
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Icknield Way Path is a long distance footpath in East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
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It connects with: Angles Way
Angles Way
The Angles Way is a long-distance footpath in Britain, along the Norfolk/Suffolk border between Great Yarmouth and Knettishall Heath. The route may be conveniently divided into seven stages:...
, Bunyan Trail, Chiltern Way
Chiltern Way
The Chiltern Way is a waymarked long-distance footpath in southern England in the United Kingdom.-The route:The route is circular and runs through the Chiltern Hills region passing through parts of the counties of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire.The meandering route...
, Harcamlow Way, Hertfordshire Chain Walk
Hertfordshire Chain Walk
The Hertfordshire Chain Walk is located in Hertfordshire, England, and consists of 15 linked circular walks. These walks, each of which is between 4.25 and 9 miles, make up a total distance of 87 miles. The tracks pass through villages in East Hertfordshire close to London, the Icknield Way and the...
, Hertfordshire Way
Hertfordshire Way
The Hertfordshire Way is located in Hertfordshire, England, and is a 166-mile circular walk around the county, with a recently added 24-mile extension. The route mainly passes through open countryside and small villages; St Albans and the county town, Hertford are the only large towns on the route...
, Lea Valley Walk
Lea Valley Walk
The Lea Valley Walk is a long-distance path located between Leagrave, the source of the River Lea near Luton, and the Thames, at Limehouse Basin, Limehouse, east London. From its source much of the walk is rural. At Hertford the path follows the towpath of the River Lee Navigation, and it becomes...
, Peddars Way
Peddars Way
The Peddars Way is a long distance footpath in Norfolk, England. It is 46 miles long and follows the route of a Roman road. 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...
, Ridgeway
The Ridgeway
thumb|right|thumb|The ancient tree-lined path winds over the downs countrysideThe Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road...
, Roman Road Link, Stour Valley Path and Swan's Way.
The trail was devised by the Icknield Way Association and supported by the Ramblers Association. It was part of a plan to achieve National Trail status for the whole length of the ancient trackways linking the South Coast and The Wash
The Wash
The Wash is the square-mouthed bay and estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia on the east coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire. It is among the largest estuaries in the United Kingdom...
. The path was recognised by local authorities in 1992. A horse rider and off-road cycle route has been established following a similar route to the walkers route.
Place en route include: Whipsnade Tree Cathedral
Whipsnade Tree Cathedral
Whipsnade Tree Cathedral is a 9.5 acre garden in the village of Whipsnade in Bedfordshire, England. It is planted in the approximate form of a cathedral, with grass avenues for nave, chancel, transepts, chapels and cloisters and "walls" of different species of trees.The Tree Cathedral was planted...
, Dunstable Downs
Dunstable Downs
Dunstable Downs are part of the Chiltern Hills, in southern Bedfordshire in England. They are a chalk escarpment forming the north-eastern reaches of the Chilterns...
, Dunstable
Dunstable
Dunstable is a market town and civil parish located in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north.-Etymology:In...
, Wingfield
Wingfield, Bedfordshire
Wingfield is a hamlet located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England.The settlement is close to Tebworth and Chalgrave, with the nearest town being Houghton Regis....
, Chalgrave
Chalgrave
thumb|left|Signpost for Chalgrave ParishChalgrave is a civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The hamlets of Tebworth and Wingfield are in the west of the parish, with the church and manor in the east. Nearby places are Toddington , Chalton , Houghton Regis ,...
, Toddington
Toddington, Bedfordshire
Toddington is a large village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire, England which is situated 5 miles NNW of Luton, north of Dunstable, south west of Woburn and 35 miles NNW of London on the A5120 and B579. It is 0.5 miles from Junction 12 of the M1 motorway and lends its...
, M1 motorway
M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
, Upper Sundon
Upper Sundon
Upper Sundon is a village located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England.The village is the largest settlement in the wider Sundon civil parish, though Lower Sundon is presumed to be older, as the parish church is located there.Today, Upper Sundon houses most of the...
, Sharpenhoe
Sharpenhoe
Sharpenhoe is a small village in Bedfordshire, England, at the foot of the hills known as the Sharpenhoe Clappers, which are within the Chilterns AONB.- Transport :...
, Streatley
Streatley, Bedfordshire
Streatley is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England.-Geography:Streatley is situated just to the west of the A6, and is the first village on the A6 north of Luton, being about north of central Luton...
, Warden Hills
Warden Hills
Warden Hills is an area of Luton, which is named after the hills overlooking it. Formerly part of a village called Streatley, until the 1960s, Warden Hills has become one of the fastest-growing areas of Luton in the past 50 years....
, Pirton
Pirton, Hertfordshire
Pirton is a small village and civil parish three miles north-east of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. The church, rebuilt in 1877, but with the remains of its 12th-century tower, is built within the bailey of a former castle...
, Ickleford
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...
, Royston
Royston, Hertfordshire
Royston is a town and civil parish in the District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England.It is situated on the Greenwich Meridian, which brushes the towns western boundary, and at the northernmost apex of the county on the same latitude of towns such as Milton Keynes and...
, Letchworth
Letchworth
Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The town's name is taken from one of the three villages it surrounded - all of which featured in the Domesday Book. The land used was first purchased by Quakers who had intended to farm the...
, Therfield
Therfield
Therfield is both a small village of approximately 4,761 acres and a civil parish which sits upon the chalk range, three miles southwest of Royston, and six miles northeast of Baldock) and within the English county of Hertfordshire.-Ancient history:The name Therfield is a variation of Tharfield...
, Baldock
Baldock
Baldock is a historic market town in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It lies north of London, southeast of Bedford, and north northwest of the county town of Hertford...
, Heydon
Heydon, Cambridgeshire
Heydon is a village in the East of England region and the county Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom. The area of the village is . Heydon has the King William IV Pub as its only pub. The village also has the Wood Green Animal Shelter Small Animals Rescue Home...
, Elmdon
Elmdon
Elmdon is a village in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, near the boundary with Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. The undulating nature of the local topography differentiates it from countryside to the north which is predominantly fenland and flat....
, Great Chesterford
Great Chesterford
Great Chesterford is a medium sized village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is located north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and about north of London.- History :...
, Linton
Linton, Cambridgeshire
Linton is a village in rural Cambridgeshire, England, on the border with Essex. It has been expanded much since the 1960s and is now one of many dormitory villages around Cambridge. The railway station was on the Stour Valley Railway between Cambridge and Colchester, now closed. The Rivey Hill...
, Balsham
Balsham
Balsham is a rural village and civil parish in the county of Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom which has much expanded since the 1960s and is now one of several dormitory settlements of Cambridge...
, Burrough Green
Burrough Green
Burrough Green is a village and parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Described in Kelly's Directory as a "village and parish 2½ miles south-east from Dullingham station on the Cambridge and Bury branch of the London and North Eastern Railway and 6 south from Newmarket, in the hundred of Radfield,...
, Stetchworth
Stetchworth
Stetchworth is a small village and civil parish in East Cambridgeshire, England, to the south of the horse-racing centre of Newmarket and around east of Cambridge.-History:...
, Cheveley
Cheveley
The village of Cheveley is situated in the county of Cambridgeshire and lies about four miles east-south-east of the market town of Newmarket. Cheveley falls within the local government district of East Cambridgeshire. Geographically, Cheveley stands on the third highest point in Cambridgeshire at ...
, Ashley
Ashley, Cambridgeshire
Ashley is a village and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about four miles east of Newmarket in Suffolk....
, Gazeley
Gazeley
Gazeley is a village and civil parish in the Forest Heath district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 it had a population of 740. A house converted windmill survives in the village....
, Tuddenham
Tuddenham
Tuddenham is a village and civil parish in the Forest Heath district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 it had a population of 450.Between 1943 and 1963, RAF Tuddenham was a Royal Air Force airfield close to the village...
, and Icklingham
Icklingham
Icklingham is a village in Suffolk, England.It takes its name from an Iron Age tribe, the Iceni, who lived in the area and has the remains of a Roman settlement to the South...
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