Editing Icknield Way (section)

==Route==
[[File:Spencer Gore Icknield Way 1912.jpg|thumb|[[Spencer Gore (artist)|Spencer Gore]]: "Icknield Way", 1912. Used as the cover picture of "The Icknield Way Path – A Walkers' Guide" published by the Icknield Way Association in 2012]]
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.

To the west the track can be detected below the escarpments of the [[Berkshire Downs]]. Near [[Wantage]], the route along the ridge of the Downs is known as ''[[The Ridgeway]]'', and the name ''Icknield Way'' is applied to a parallel lowland route above the [[spring line]] at the northern edge of the chalk.<ref name="IWM"/> Between [[Lewknor]] and [[Ivinghoe]] there are two parallel courses known as the ''Lower Icknield Way'' and the ''Upper Icknield Way''.<ref name="Tho"/> In [[Cambridgeshire]], ''Street Way'' (Ashwell Street), ''Ditch Way'' and others have been put forward as variant routes, possibly for use in summer or winter.<ref name="Har"/><ref>{{Citation|title=How England's Oldest Road Was Nearly Lost Forever|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dYc0Ouxhx0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/3dYc0Ouxhx0| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=2020-06-08}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Many modern roads follow the Icknield Way, such as the B489 from [[Aston Clinton]] to Dunstable and the [[A505]] from [[Baldock]] to [[Royston, Hertfordshire|Royston]]. In some places, especially from the east of [[Luton]] in Bedfordshire to [[Ickleford]] (so named from the Way crossing a stream) near [[Hitchin]] in Hertfordshire, the route is followed by minor roads, and is not distinguishable at all in many places, except by landscape features such as [[tumulus|barrows]] and mounds which line the route, and indentation presumably from ancient and frequent use. It could be described as a belt studded with archaeological sites found at irregular intervals.

The Icknield Way used to form part of the boundary between Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, and at one time [[Royston, Hertfordshire|Royston]] was cut in two by this boundary. Royston is where the Icknield Way crosses [[Ermine Street]].

In the south-west some writers take the Way to [[Exeter]], while others only take it as far as Salisbury. To the north-east, [[Icklingham]], Suffolk, and [[Caistor St. Edmund|Caistor-by-Norwich]], [[Great Yarmouth|Yarmouth]] and [[Hunstanton]], Norfolk, have all been proposed as the destination.<ref name="Har"/> In support of the western route, a road at [[Dersingham]] near Hunstanton was named ''Ykenildestrethe'' and ''Ikelynge Street'' in the 13th century.<ref name="Cla"/>