Icknield Way Development

This page seeks to give some background to the Icknield Way development and our ambition to become a fully recognised National Trail forming the missing link between the Peddars Way and the Ridgeway National Trails. We are working co-operatively with the other routes on promoting the Great Chalk Way, linking the Dorset and Norfolk coasts along the chalk spine across central-southern England.

Background to the Icknield Way Corridor Concept

Colin Speakman report (2005)

In March 2005 Colin Speakman prepared a report for the Countryside Commission and the Icknield Way Forum on the viability of the Icknield Way, entitled Sustainable Access to the Icknield Way. The full report is reproduced here, although some of the information is now out of date, it still includes much useful information. The following extract summarises the background to the Icknield Way:

The 105 mile (168km) long Icknield Way Path between Ivinghoe Beacon and Knettishall Heath Country Park is remarkable for a number of reasons. It is one of the oldest walking and riding trails in Western Europe, being in constant use over a period of 4,000 years. It is also a complex route to define historically because of many variations over the ages, as travellers took different choices of routes depending on the condition of the highway, the nature of their journey and the goods they were carrying, and increasingly in the 20 and 21st centuries, motor traffic on the highway. Some sections therefore follow the authentic, prehistoric or medieval line of route; others have been devised in practical ways to avoid busy sections of main road or recent urban development.

In other words, the Icknield Way has always been a “corridor” and for this reason is admirably suited to be developed into a dual purpose route, on the one hand meeting the needs of walkers, on the other equally suitable for horse riders and cyclists, with many parallel or braided sections, but also with many sections of track and quiet lane being used in common. This reflects both its historic and modern development and function.

A third special feature of the route is that it links two existing National Trails, both of them also of exceedingly ancient origin – The Ridgeway which links the Wiltshire Downs and the Chilterns, and Peddars’ Way – a comparative newcomer being largely Roman in origin – between the forested landscapes of Breckland and the Norfolk Coast. …

Sustainable Access to the Icknield Way, March 2005

Corridor Study (2003)

The Icknield Way Corridor Study was prepared in May 2003 by Keiley Hunt Associates Ltd, a company specialising in rural land management. The summary document has been scanned from the original printed document.

Headline Recommendation

That the Icknield Way becomes the focus for an Economic and Social Enhancement Corridor, linking business, community and the environmental and recreational resources of the routes.

In creating the corridor it is acknowledged that:

  • The Icknield Way offers some of lowland England’s most varied countryside
  • The Icknield Way is multi-user and well used along its length
  • The routes are punctuated by picturesque villages and hamlets, thriving market towns and the multi-cultural conurbation of Luton
  • Put contextually the Icknield Way has become a critical communication link from the time of the pyramids and has a wide range of historical sites closely linked from the prehistoric to twentieth century
  • The route’s management to date has formed a sound base on which further developments can take place
  • The basis and components for an enhancement corridor are there and need formalising and developing

The full report is over 150 pages. This has been scanned from a printed version which has led to some large pdf files. The page numbers are not completely contiguous, but all the pages with content are scanned. The link includes the subsequent sections/appendices

  • Section 0 – content, index
  • Section 1 – The Study
  • Section 2 – Introduction
  • Section 3 – The Icknield Way
  • Section 4 – The Corridor
  • Section 5 – Access
  • Section 6 – Corridor Management
  • Section 7 – Land Use
  • Section 8 – Economic Development Through Tourism
  • Section 9 – Transport
  • Section 10 – Social Benefits
  • Section 11 – Conclusions and Recomendations
  • Appendix 1 – Key Policy Matrix
  • Appendix 2 – Route Description
  • Appendix 3 – Suggested Corridor Parish/Community Listing
  • Appendix 4 – Businesses Contacted
  • Appendix 5 – Selected Case Studies
  • Appendix 6 – Survey Material
  • Appendix 7 – Key Points from Focus Groups
  • Appendix 8 – Field Surveys
  • Appendix 9 – Notes of meeting with Peddars Way Project Officer
  • Appendix 10 – Disabled Access management and Criteria
  • Appendix 11 – Rights of Way Management Data 2000
  • Appendix 12 – Identified Long Distance Routes and Connections
  • Appendix 13 – EETB Accommodation List
  • Appendix 14 – EETB Attractions

An Icknield Way Ode

An Icknield Way Ode

And did those feet in Ancient Time
Walk upon Icknield's landscape green
And was the tread of Belge and Celt
On Icknields stony trackway seen?

And will the ghost of Thurstan Shaw
Plead from up high on clouded hills
'The Icknield Trail is Regional'
A status to which no one thrills

Bring me my boots - out work on hold
Bring me some weather of desire
Bring me my pack O maps unfold!
Grant me a path without barbed wire

I will not cease from legal fight
Nor shall my Guide sleep in my hand
Till Icknield's Trail is NATIONAL
Through Anglia's green and pleasant land

Ken Payne, March 2007

Action Plan

The Committee of the Icknield Way Association are continuing to promote the route through adjusting the route in response to new developments, maintaining the waymarking along the route, maintaining a network of volunteer wardens along the route to ensure it is usable, maintaining links with highway authorities and other stakeholders on the route.