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The Icknield Way - at the very centre of which lies our parish - is one of the oldest roads in Great Britain, being one of the few long-distance trackways to have existed before the Romans occupied the country, of which the route can still be traced. The name is Celto-British in derivation, and may be named after the Iceni tribe, who 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. However, 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 early as the Iron Age period (before the Roman invasion of 43 AD) and through Anglo-Saxon times, it stretched from Berkshire through Oxfordshire and crossed the River Thames at Chosley near Wallingford. The path is 105 miles long, linking the Ridgeway Path to the Peddars Way. Somewhat confusingly, the name Icknield Way was transferred in the 12th century to a Roman road running from Bourton on the Water to Templeborough near Rotherham. This is now called Icknield Street or Ryknild Street to distinguish it from the older Icknield Way. In many places the track consists or consisted of several routes, particularly as it passes along the line of the escarpment of the Chilterns, probably because of the seasonal usage, and possibly the amount of traffic especially of herds or flocks of livestock. At Wallingford, it meets the Ridgeway another ancient trackway, passes in a north easterly direction along the edge of the Chilterns past Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire through Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire to Knettishall Heath in Norfolk. It could be described as a belt studded with archaeological sites found at irregular intervals. Many modern roads follow the Icknield Way, for example the main road at Dunstable that crosses Watling Street (the A5). In some places, especially from the east of Luton to Ickleford (so named from the Way crossing a stream) near Hitchin in Hertfordshire the route is followed by many more 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. 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 lies where the Icknield Way crosses Ermine Street.
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