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Icknield Street or Ryknild Street is a
Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
in England, with a route roughly south-west to north-east. It runs from the
Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bath), Corini ...
at
Bourton on the Water Bourton-on-the-Water is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, that lies on a wide flat vale within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The village had a population of 3,296 at the 2011 census. Much of the village ...
in Gloucestershire () to Templeborough in South Yorkshire (). It passes through Alcester, Studley, Redditch,
Metchley Fort Metchley Fort was a Roman fort in what is now Birmingham, England. It lies on the course of a Roman road, Icknield Street, which is now the site of the present Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston. The fort was ...
, Birmingham,
Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...
, Lichfield, Burton upon Trent and Derby.


Names

Four Roman roads having the King's protection are named in the
Laws of Edward the Confessor The title ''Leges Edwardi Confessoris'', or ''Laws of Edward the Confessor'', refers to a collection of laws, purporting to represent English law in the time of Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042–1066), as recited to the Norman invader king Wil ...
: Watling Street, Ermine Street, the Fosse Way, and Hikenild or Icknield Street. 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
Ranulf Higdon Ranulf Higden or Higdon ( – 12 March 1364) was an English chronicler and a Benedictine monk who wrote the ''Polychronicon'', a Late Medieval magnum opus. Higden, who resided at the monastery of St. Werburgh in Chester, is believed to ha ...
, a monk of Chester writing in 1344 in his ''Polychronicon''. Higdon gives the name as Rikenild Strete, which, he says, tends from the south-west to the north, and begins at St David's in Wales and continues across England to the mouth of the Tyne, passing Worcester, Droitwich, Birmingham, Lichfield, Derby, and Chesterfield. It has borne that name, or Rigning, Reenald or Rignall, from early times. In three of the four MSS of Higdon the name is given as Rikenilde or Rikenyldes, and in the fourth (which is said to be one of the earliest), Hikenil Street. Trevisa's English translation (1387) calls it Rykeneldes Strete.Roman Roads in Britain, Thomas Codrington, SPCK, London, 1903. Harverfield, writing in the Victoria County History of WarwickshireVictoria County History of Warwickshire Vol I, p. 239, 1904 doubted whether the road had any real and original right to either name, preferring Ryknild as no less correct (or no more incorrect), and being able to distinguish it from Icknield Street in Oxfordshire and Berkshire.Highways and Byways in Shakespeare's Country, Hutton 1914 It is now called Icknield or Ryknild ''Street'' to distinguish it from the older Icknield Way. In the 19th century it is also referred to in antiquarian literature with the spelling "Rykneld Street". A preserved section of the
Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
can be seen at Sutton Park, now in the City of Birmingham.


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 hrough Walesis 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 iverTame 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 iverTrent 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."


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

"Ryknild Street" is still in use in Lichfield and "Ryknild Road" in Derby.


Bourton-on-the-Water to Bidford-on-Avon

The road appears to have joined the Fosse Way near Bourton-on‑the‑Water. Starting about two miles north of there, and two miles west of Stow-on-the-Wold, a lane (Condicott Lane) runs northwards in a straight line to
Condicote Condicote is a small village in Gloucestershire, England. It is near the A424 road. It has a small church dedicated to St Nicholas. It has evidence of Pre-Roman inhabitants, with an example of a henge There are three related types of Neolithi ...
and then
Hinchwick Hinchwick is a small village in Gloucestershire, England at . Hinchwick Manor was built by architect Charles Robert Cockerell Charles Robert Cockerell (27 April 1788 – 17 September 1863) was an English architect, archaeologist, and writ ...
. This lane appears to indicate the course of Icknield Street. It leads towards high ground, about on Bourton Down. It is not clear how the ascent of from Hinchwick to the Down was made, but on the Down a lane northwards from Springhill takes nearly the same line for to near the
Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesha ...
road , from which a parish boundary over Saintbury Hill seems to mark the course down the north side. On the west side of Weston Park, a line seems to be taken up lying between high ground , to the south, and Alcester, to the north. A road in this line, passing on the west of Weston-sub‑Edge, leads on to a highway with a parish boundary along it called Riknild or Icknield Street, which is crossed by the railway at Honeybourne Station. It continues northward under the name of Buckle Street to Staple Hill, one mile south of Bidford-on-Avon. This is probably the oldest version of the name being the modern form of a name Bucgan or Buggilde Street which appears in documents earlier than the Norman Conquest. As the road approaches Bidford there is a slight turn, and the modern road heads for the crossing point of the medieval bridge whereas the Roman ford is upstream of here and the road name preserved in a small road named Icknield Street on the northern bank. Evidence of a Roman causeway here confirms this as the Roman crossing point.


Bidford-on-Avon to Birmingham

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
Wixford Wixford is a hamlet and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District of Warwickshire, England, situated south of Alcester. The population at the 2011 census was 155. The area is largely agricultural with no large employers in the area, most ...
by the Three Horse Shoes Inn the modern road turns west whilst the line of the road continues north in a hollow way to Saint Milburga's church where it becomes a track running along the ridge to the east of Ragley Hall heading towards Alcester. At Alcester the original crossing point has been lost due to changes in the course of the river and the development of the town but the line is recovered north of the town on the modern
A435 List of A roads in Great Britain, A roads in List of A roads zones in Great Britain, zone 4 in Great Britain starting north of the A4 road (Great Britain), A4 and south/west of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5 (roads beginning with 4). __TOC__ ...
. Passing
Coughton Court Coughton Court () is an English Tudor country house, situated on the main road between Studley and Alcester in Warwickshire. It is a Grade I listed building. The house has a long crenellated façade directly facing the main road, at the cent ...
the road bears the local name of Headon or Haydon Way and proceeds through Studley and to one mile beyond, where the modern road turns off to the north-eastward. Heading north much of the route is lost, since Codrington wrote, in the development of Redditch, however Icknield Street Drive, Battens Drive approximates the route until a small road through the residential area of Churchill marked Ryknield Street on the modern 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey map, exactly in a line with Haydon Way, is reached. This line appears to point from Alcester to high ground about , one mile east of Rowney Green, and north of
Beoley Beoley is a small village and larger civil parish north of Redditch in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire. It adjoins Warwickshire to the east. The 2001 census gave a parish population of 945, mostly at Holt End. The parish includes the ...
. Now the B4497 the road heads north through Beoley crossing under the
M42 motorway The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Tamworth on the way, serving the east of the Bi ...
just south of Alcott Farm. It retains the name Icknield Street, climbing the high ground of Swans Hill between the Coach and Horses Public House at Weatheroak Hill and the Peacock Inn at the junction with Lea End Lane. Here, a hedge line and footpath run directly up the hill while the modern road deviates slightly to the east to accommodate the incline before rejoining the original route and continuing north until it enters the
suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
of Birmingham at Kings Norton adjacent to the
Romano British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a ...
settlement of Longdales Road. It then follows the course of Walkers Heath Road over the traffic roundabout at Parsons Hill, to Broadmeadow Lane, Lifford Lane, Pershore Road and Hazelwell Street, finally disappearing into residential developments at Stirchley by the swimming baths.


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. Hutton gave the course as ''"onwards by Stirchley Street, crossing the Bromsgrove road at Selly Oak, leaving Harborne a mile to the west, by the observatory in Lady Wood Lane, crossing the Dudley Road at Sandpits, and along Worstone Lane, passing five furlongs north of the Navigation Bridge in Great Charles Street, Birmingham. He saw the section of the road where the inhabitants attempted to pull it up for the sake of the materials, 20 yards wide, and one yard deep, filled up with stone cemented with coarse mortar,"'' and he says that ''"the course was discoverable by its barren track through uncultivated meadows."'' Icknield Street or Icknield Port Road are not old names and cannot be traced in the city prior to 1825 and may have been introduced as a result of Hutton's theory. Birmingham and its suburbs now cover the old road. The line of Hazelwell Street sets the course of the road towards the next established point of the route at Metchley Fort in the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The fort was established about 48 AD by the
Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval continu ...
as a base camp for its conquest of the Birmingham area
Victor Skipp The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
, ''The History of Greater Birmingham - down to 1830'', 1980.
and part of a network of forts across the Midlands linked by roads.Birmingham's Roman Fort Main Findings
/ref> It stood by Birmingham's earliest known road junction at the point where Icknield Street was met by Roman roads coming in from Droitwich and
Penkridge Penkridge ( ) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Staffordshire, South Staffordshire District in Staffordshire, England. It is to the south of Stafford, north of Wolverhampton, west of Cannock and east of Telford. ...
. From here the road runs north to another fort at Wall, Roman Etocetum near Lichfield. The
Perry Bridge Perry Bridge, also known as the Zig Zag Bridge, is a bridge over the River Tame in Perry Barr, Birmingham, England. Built in 1711, it is a Grade II listed building and a Scheduled monument. The bridge is constructed of red sandstone in a pac ...
of 1711 stands at its crossing of the River Tame in Perry Barr. However, Walker cast doubts on this orthodox view of the road's course in this areaWalker, B, 1936 The Rycknield Street in the Neighbourhood of Birmingham Trans Birmingham & Warwickshire Archaeol Soc 60, 42-55 and resistivity surveys undertaken on sites either side of the crossing in 1992, showed that, although the line of the road is clearly indicated on old maps and aerial photographs, the site has been considerably altered this century by, among other things, the embankment of the M6. The one place where the road might have been detected proved inaccessible without considerable clearance of dense undergrowth (remnants of a hedge-line following the road?) and a 20-metre grid on adjacent open ground proved negative. The second site was on wasteland immediately south of the river. Here, the "Walker" road-line only shaved the top comer of this before disappearing under a modern industrial development (plot-holders in allotments to the south did not recall any finds during building work, nor were they able to identify any "hard" areas on their land, where the "Walker" line might be expected to continue). A series of complete and partial 20-metre grids laid down the fence line between the industrial estate and the wasteland and then right across the open area yielded nothing which could relate to the "Walker" line but did produce some low resistance features running parallel with the site's east boundary.


Birmingham to Lichfield

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 Lodg

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, 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. To the north of the park, about half-a‑mile through the private residential estate
Little Aston Park Little Aston is a village in Staffordshire, England. It is located within the Lichfield District and is approximately south of the city of Lichfield. Formerly a separate settlement, it is in modern times contiguous with the built-up area of th ...
where it is named Roman Road, a short length of road north of Little Aston, Forge Lane, and another length to the west of Shenstone, mark the course of the road in a straight line from Streetley Hill to high ground , on the north-east of Wall. From near Birmingham to Wall (Letocetum) for nine miles the road is not perceptibly out of a straight line, which may very well have been set out from intermediate points at Streetley Hill, and the high ground , south of the old Royal Oak Inn. Icknield Street would appear to have crossed Watling Street on the east of Letocetum at the point where Ashcroft Lane crosses the A5. There is then a considerable change of direction to the north-east, and a straight course for nine miles to near Barton-under-Needwood. The alignment was sighted from Knowle Farm, as there is a slight bend at this point. Knowle Lane then follows the course of the old road leading into Cricket Lane, Quarry Hills Lane and on to a preservation of the name as Ryknild Street. This in turn leads to Austin Cote Lane, which crosses the Brittania Enterprise Park onto the Old Burton Road, joining the A38 at Streethay.


Lichfield to Derby

The old road is still used, save a few local diversions, from the crossing with the main Birmingham-Lichfield road (A 38(T), to Littleover on the outskirts of Derby and here the highway is very straight and well raised, by two to three feet in places, a fine example of a Roman road still in use.
William Stukeley William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...
wrote that ''"part of Rigning Way north from Wall was very fair with a high straight bank"'' and that ''"upon the hill south of Littleover, Rigning is under the eye as far as Etocetum, and the hills beyond it."'' At Littleover the road turns to the east as the modern A5250, but named Rykneld Street and later Pastures Hill where a section of road has been examined adjacent to Derby High School and Pineview Gardens, 2 miles (4 km) south west of
Derventio Derventio is a Britto-Roman name, but of Celtic origin (''dervo-'' "oak-tree"), and refers to one of the following Roman sites in Roman Britain : * Derventio (Papcastle), the Roman fort and settlement at Papcastle near Cockermouth, Cumbria * Derven ...
, the Roman fort at Little Chester. The buried remains of the Roman road are not visible above ground but include drainage features and construction pits flanked by shallow boundary ditches. Plough scars cutting the Roman road surface indicate that in the post-Roman period the site was used for arable land whilst in the 18th century, it formed part of the Birmingham to Derby turnpike but it is also possible that by this time, the main road had been diverted onto its present course at Pastures Hill. Archaeological excavation in 2003 by the Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit identified the presence of a Bronze Age cremation cemetery in the area between the road and Pastures Hill. A Bronze Age cremation urn was recovered as well as evidence for Iron Age occupation indicating the area may have served as a long lived ritual landscape, including Bronze Age to Roman activity in the Roman road's alignment. It has been suggested that the Bronze Age cremations could have been laid out along the line of a Bronze Age trackway which continued to use into, or was returned to use, during the Roman period. The course appears to have been on the west side of Derby passing close to a Roman fort, occupied in 50 AD, at Strutts Park (some finds of pottery from the excavations of the fort are in the collection of Derby Museum).
Swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...
doubts that Ryknild Street went to Strutts Park, which was replaced around 80 AD by the fort at
Chester Green Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Local ...
on the other side of the River Derwent, the construction of Ryknild Street being contemporary with that of the later fort. Stukeley traced the track of the wall at Chester Green all round enclosing an area, according to his plan, 120 paces from east to west, and 100 paces from north to south, the foundation of the bridge he said could be felt with a staff. and Bishop Bennet in 1817 said that the piers of the bridge could be felt in a dry summer.


Derby to Chesterfield

From Little Chester to the countryside north of Derby, the route has not been determined. 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.


See also

* Roman Britain * Roman roads in Britain


References


External links


Birmingham Roman Roads Project
(Hosted by the University of Birmingham)
Metchley Fort, Birmingham
{{Transport in Gloucestershire Roman roads in England Transport in Gloucestershire Transport in Worcestershire Roads in Warwickshire Transport in Staffordshire Roads in Derbyshire Transport in South Yorkshire Archaeological sites in Gloucestershire Archaeological sites in Worcestershire Archaeological sites in Warwickshire Archaeological sites in Staffordshire Archaeological sites in Derbyshire Archaeological sites in South Yorkshire Roman Derby Roman sites in Derbyshire