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Icknield Way
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==Artists and writers on the Way== The Icknield Way has inspired a number of writers and artists. [[Spencer Gore (artist)|Spencer Gore]], the founder of the [[Camden Town Group]] of artists, painted the route in 1912 while staying with his friend [[Harold Gilman]] at Letchworth. His work, influenced by [[CΓ©zanne]], [[Van Gogh]] and [[Gauguin]], is acknowledged as one of the pioneering works of British [[Modernism]].<ref>[https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-icknield-way/kQHFwhKPeDfa0g?hl=en Google Arts & Culture β The Icknield Way]. From the collection of Art Gallery of New South Wales.</ref><ref>[[Bernard Smith (art historian)|Smith, Bernard]] (2002). [https://books.google.com/books?id=bJECv_GH-RsC&pg=PA449 ''A Pavane for Another Time'']. {{ISBN|9781876832667}}. Macmillan Education AU. p. 449</ref> One of the best known literary travellers of the Icknield Way is the poet [[Edward Thomas (poet)|Edward Thomas]], who walked the path in 1911 and published his account in 1913. Thomas was interested in ancient roads and inspired by [[Hilaire Belloc]]'s ''Old Road'' and other travel memoirs published by [[Constable & Robinson|Constable]] written by R. Hippisley Cox, Harold J. E. Peake and others. Although the book takes the form of a single 10-day journey, Thomas wrote the book in stages over the course of a year. He was often joined by his brother Julian, both rising at 5 am or 6 am to walk {{Convert|30β40|mi|km|abbr=on}} a day. Although more interested in poetic description, his publisher directed him to give more concrete details of his route, thus the book is closer to being a guidebook than Thomas' earlier, more poetic, travel books.<ref>Moorcroft Wilson, Jean (2015). [https://books.google.com/books?id=1QK2CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 ''Edward Thomas: from Adlestrop to Arras: A Biography''] Bloomsbury. {{ISBN|9781408187142}}. pp. 227β229.</ref> Inspired by Thomas's journey, contemporary British nature writer [[Robert Macfarlane (writer)|Robert MacFarlane]] begins his book of walking ancient paths, ''The Old Ways'', by walking the Icknield Way, "hoping to summon him [Thomas] by walking where he had walked".<ref>MacFarlane, Robert (2012). [https://books.google.com/books?id=goRITzlvKQQC&dq=OLD%20WAYs&pg=PT47 ''The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot'']. Penguin. {{ISBN|9780241143810}}. p. 47.</ref> [[George R. R. Martin]] used the "Four Highways" as the model for the Kingsway in his ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' novels.<ref>Higgs, John (2017). [https://books.google.com/books?id=GRtGDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT47 ''Watling Street: Travels Through Britain and Its Ever-Present Past'']. Hachette UK. {{ISBN|9781474603492}}. p. 47.</ref> The first episode of the 2016β17 documentary series ''[[Britain's Ancient Tracks with Tony Robinson]]'' was about the Icknield Way and included drone views of the trail.
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