Icknield Way

ancient route, England, United Kingdom

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Article History

Icknield Way, famous prehistoric trackway across England from Norfolk to Wiltshire, following dry ground along the East Anglian ridge, the Chiltern Hills, and the Berkshire Downs. In Wiltshire are the great foci of the prehistoric occupation of the county at Stonehenge and Avebury; on the Norfolk–Suffolk border near Brandon are the major flint mines known as Grime’s Graves. The name, British in origin, was used first for the western sections in Berkshire but is now applied more generally to the track north of the Thames, which is crossed at the Goring Gap. In parts the track is doubled above and below the spring line of the escarpment, suggesting seasonal variation in use.