Icknield Street
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Ryknild_street.jpg/220px-Ryknild_street.jpg)
Icknield Street or Ryknild Street is a
Names
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Romanbritain.jpg/170px-Romanbritain.jpg)
Four Roman roads having the King's protection are named in the Laws of Edward the Confessor: Watling Street, Ermine Street, the Fosse Way, and Hikenild or Icknield Street.[1] Hikenild Strete is generally supposed to be connected with the country of the Iceni. Various forms of the name (the earliest in Anglo-Saxon charters are Icenhilde Weg or Icenilde Weg) designate other roads from the borders of Norfolk through Cambridgeshire, Bucks, Berks, Hants and Wilts into Dorset. These locations, however, would identify the route as Icknield Way an Iron Age trackway running from Norfolk to Dorset.
What is today referred to as the Icknield Street road acquired the name Ryknild Street during the 12th century, when it was named by
A preserved section of the Roman road can be seen at Sutton Park, now in the City of Birmingham.[5]
Route
George William Collen's book Britannia Saxonica (1833) concisely outlines the route, drawing on Leland's Itinerary:
... stated to have led from St. David's to Tynemouth. Its exact course [through Wales] is little known: it may, however, be traced from Gloucester to Norton; thence to a little east of Tewkesbury; thence to Ashchurch, Bekford, Aston-under-hill, to the west of Sedgebarrow in Worcestershire; thence to Hinton, a little east of Evesham, South Littleton, to Bitford in Warwickshire, through Wicksford to Alcester; thence near Coughton, Studley, and Ipsley; enters Worcestershire again near Beoley, passes near Egbaston in that county, and a little west of Birmingham crosses the [River] Tame at Woodford Bridge into Staffordshire; runs through Sutton Park and by Shenston, cuts the WAETLINGA-STRAETE (Watling Street) about a mile from Wall and Lichfield; thence to Streetley, crosses the [River] Trent at Whichnor; then taking Branston in its way, leaving Burton-upon Trent half-a-mile to the east, passes through Stretton, enters Derbyshire over Monk's Bridge near Egginton. The direction of this road cannot be traced further, although its course is said to have been through Derby, Chesterfield, York, and so to Tynemouth.[6]
Today's route
Much of the Midlands route of the Icknield Street is used by modern roads, most notably the A38 from Lichfield to Derby; and many sections retain the name "Icknield Street", but not always accurately as in Hockley, Birmingham and in Redditch, Worcestershire where there is also a road called Icknield Street Drive' which stands near the course of the Roman road. [3] "Ryknild Street" is still in use in Lichfield and "Ryknild Road" in Derby.
Bourton-on-the-Water to Bidford-on-Avon
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Ryknild_Street_%285%29_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1718340.jpg/220px-Ryknild_Street_%285%29_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1718340.jpg)
The road appears to have joined the Fosse Way near
Bidford-on-Avon to Birmingham
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Wild_Fowl_-_geograph.org.uk_-_159777.jpg/220px-Wild_Fowl_-_geograph.org.uk_-_159777.jpg)
From Bidford following the named Icknield Street the line of the road then follows Waterloo Road through Bidford and then across country as the B4085. At
Across Birmingham
The 7 miles from Stirchley in the south of Birmingham to Perry Bridge at Holford in the north is a serious problem. It has long vexed Birmingham antiquaries and is perhaps insoluble.
Birmingham to Lichfield
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Knowle_Farm_-_geograph.org.uk_-_131669.jpg/220px-Knowle_Farm_-_geograph.org.uk_-_131669.jpg)
From Perry Bridge the road heads North, Coddrington describes the route as following a county boundary for a quarter of a mile and then a road, now the B4138, Kingstanding Road, until it enters Sutton Park close to the old Royal Oak Inn, now the Toby Carvery and Lodge.[4] The course is preserved as it crosses the Western edge of the park, where the ridge appears very plainly, of a rounded profile, eight or nine yards wide over all, and three to four feet high in the middle. It has been described as presenting one of the best examples of a Roman road, 60 feet (18 m) wide with a ditch on each side. It has little claim to be so considered, and the ditches where they occur appear to be connected with modern drainage.
Lichfield to Derby
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/A38_between_Burton_and_Derby_-_geograph.org.uk_-_403009.jpg/220px-A38_between_Burton_and_Derby_-_geograph.org.uk_-_403009.jpg)
The old road is still used, save a few local diversions, from the crossing with the main Birmingham-Lichfield road (A 38(T), to
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Rykneld_Street_And_Site_Of_Bronze_Age_Cemetery_At_Littleover.jpg/220px-Rykneld_Street_And_Site_Of_Bronze_Age_Cemetery_At_Littleover.jpg)
The course appears to have been on the west side of Derby
Derby to Chesterfield
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Moor_Road_%28Ryknild_Street%29_-_near_Breadsall_-_geograph.org.uk_-_214298.jpg/220px-Moor_Road_%28Ryknild_Street%29_-_near_Breadsall_-_geograph.org.uk_-_214298.jpg)
From Little Chester to the countryside north of Derby, the route has not been determined.[16][23] It is certain that a road left Derventio to the east which led to Sawley on the River Trent, Icknield Street branching from this to the North East. The course is well marked beyond Breadsall, one and a half miles from Little Chester, but the intervening length has not yet been ascertained, however, there is a Ryknield Hill in Denby, which may be part of the route.[24]
See also
- Roman Britain
- Roman roads in Britain
References
- ^ Leges Edwardi Regis, David Wilkin, p190
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Roman Roads in Britain, Thomas Codrington, SPCK, London, 1903.
- ^ a b Victoria County History of Warwickshire Vol I, p. 239, 1904
- ^ a b Highways and Byways in Shakespeare's Country, Hutton 1914
- ^ Sutton Park Archived 18 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Birmingham Roman Roads Project, University of Birmingham, Accessed 29 December 2008
- ^ Britannia Saxonica (1833), pages 9-10.
- ^ "Warwickshire Time Trail" The Archaeology of Bidford on Avon Accessed 19 February 2011 [1]
- ^ Birmingham University Excavations at Longdales Road, Kings Norton 2006 Accessed 27 May 2011 [2]
- ^ History of Birmingham, William Hutton, 1781, p. 142
- ^ ISBN 0-9506998-0-2
- ^ a b Birmingham's Roman Fort Main Findings
- ^ Walker, B, 1936 The Rycknield Street in the Neighbourhood of Birmingham Trans Birmingham & Warwickshire Archaeol Soc 60, 42-55
- ^ Holford Archived 18 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Birmingham Roman Roads Project, University of Birmingham, Accessed 27 May 2011
- ^ "West Midlands Archaeology" issue 40, 1997, page 102
- ^ a b Historic England. "Letocetum (304404)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- ^ a b Historic England. "Ryknield Street Staffordshire (929839)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 27 May 2011.
- ^ William Stukeley, Iterinarium Boreale, 1776
- ^ a b Historic England. "Section of Ryknild Street (1021321)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
- ^ J. Dool, H. Wheeler; et al. (1986). "Roman Derby - Excavations 1968-1983". Derbyshire Archaeological Journal. 105, 1985.
- ^ Study Group for Roman Pottery (27 February 2008). "Roman Pottery Bibliography - Derbyshire". Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
- ^ Vivien G. Swan, The Pottery Kilns of Roman Britain, London: Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1984
- ^ William Stukeley, Itinerarium Curiosum, p54, Pl. 86.
- ^ Vinnels, Maria (15 June 2006). "Manor Kingsway SPD Derby" (PDF). White Young Green Environment Ltd for English Heritage. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- ^ Historic England. "Ryknild Styreet Little Chester to Chesterfield (1047337)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 10 June 2011.
External links
- Birmingham Roman Roads Project (Hosted by the University of Birmingham)
- Metchley Fort, Birmingham
- Derby City Council list of Scheduled Ancient Monuments
- Full text of Roman Roads in Britain, Thomas Codrington