The town grew up at the crossing of two ancient thoroughfares, Ermine Street and the Icknield Way ( cum Ashwell Street ); the former was created after the Roman conquest, while the Icknield Way has long been accepted as a prehistoric routeway.

Henry of Huntingdon wrote that the Ermine Street, Fosse Way, Watling Street and Icknield Way had been constructed by royal authority.

This route includes the Roman road running from Bourton-on-the-Water to Templeborough near Rotherham, which is now called Icknield Street ( or Ryknild Street ) to distinguish it from the Icknield Way.

Royston is where the Icknield Way crosses Ermine Street.

Roisia's Cross is a cross in Royston, Hertfordshire, at the crossroads of Ermine Street and the Icknield Way ( cum Ashwell Street ).

Icknield Street or Ryknild Street is a Roman road in Britain that runs from the Fosse Way at Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire () to Templeborough in South Yorkshire ().

Four Roman roads having the Kings protection are named in the Laws of Edward the Confessor ; Watling Street, Ermine Street, the Fosse Way and Hikenild or Icknield Street.

Harverfield writing in the Victoria County History of Warwickshire 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.

It is now called Icknield or Ryknild Street to distinguish it from the older Icknield Way.

Much of the 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.

* Icknield Port Loop ( part of the Old Main Line cut off by Telford's improvements, now serving as a feeder from Edgbaston Reservoir )

Icknield Port Road station closed in 1931, and the other stations closed to passengers on 26 November 1934.

Similar developments are planned for the Eastside area in Digbeth, and the area within Icknield Port Loop.

There are plans to build high-density housing, possibly over 1100 units, on 54 acres of derelict industrial land at Icknield Port.

His gym in Icknield Port Road, Edgbaston includes a boxing ring, plenty of floor space, punch bags, showers and a sauna and offers a variety of classes to suit all ages and abilities.

On the outskirts of Luton as Barton Road, it meets the Icknield Way Path.

The town grew up where the old Great North Road and the Icknield Way crossed.

Baldock's position at the crossing of two important thoroughfares, the Great North Road and the Icknield Way has made it a stopping point for a number of illustrious visitors, including Charles I, who passed through Baldock en route for London after his arrest in 1648 and supposedly Dick Turpin.

Military activity on the site is certainly established with the construction during or shortly after 43 AD of the Portway ( called on Andover Airfield Monxton Road ) Roman Road from Silchester ( Calleva ) to Old Sarum ( Sorviodvnvm ), which just north of the Airfield meets at East Anton Crossroads the Roman Road ( Icknield Way ) from Winchester ( Venta ) to Mildenhall ( Cvnetio ).

However, the specific events given by the Chronicle are in some doubt: archæological evidence points instead to a considerable early Anglo-Saxon presence in the upper valley of the river Thames, the Cotswolds area and from The Wash along the Icknield Way.

Others, such as the pre-Roman Icknield Way and the Roman Fosse Way are nowadays rather patchy and where a modern road exists, are numbered according to the local scheme.

The earliest mentions of the Icknield Way are in Anglo-Saxon charters from the year 903 onwards.

Between Lewknor and Ivinghoe there are two parallel courses known as the Lower Icknield Way and the Upper Icknield Way.

Because parts of the Ridgeway National Trail and the Icknield Way Path are only usable as a footpath, an Icknield Way Path Riders Route or Icknield Way Trail has been created for horseriders and cyclists.

There are over of footpaths in the Chilterns which are also transected by ancient long-distance trackways including the Icknield Way and The Ridgeway.

It is believed that the village started at the crossing of two Roman roads, Akeman Street and Icknield Way, both of which are still main roads in the village.

For those who wish to climb the hill from the base, it is possible to do a circular walk from the village of Whipsnade by following the Icknield Way Path and Chiltern Way, both of which are marked on Ordnance Survey maps.

The entrance piers and gates on Icknield Street have now been restored and further works to the entrance at Key Hill are planned to commence in 2010 / 2011.

The parish has a long history of occupation, stemming from the presence of springs at Melbourn Bury and the several ancient trackways that cross the parish ; the Icknield Way runs to the south of the parish and Ashwell Street and the Roman Cambridge-Royston road are also believed to follow prehistoric trackways.

Nearby the Black Ditches are believed to be the most easterly of a series of early Anglo-Saxon defensive earthworks built across the Icknield Way.

* In East Anglia, spring line settlements such as Burwell, Swaffham Prior, Cherry Hinton mark the Fen Edge and are close to the probable Lower Icknield Way.

Despite the construction of the A1 ( M ) motorway in 1963, which bypassed the town ( and which was called the Baldock Bypass for some years ), it was still a major traffic bottleneck until March 2006, when a new bypass removed the A505 road ( part of the old Icknield Way to the east of Baldock ) from the town.

The location of this famous battle is now claimed by some to be the village of Great Wratting, in Suffolk, which lies in the Stour Valley on the Icknield Way West of Colchester, and by a village in Essex.

The Icknield Way, an ancient trackway linking East Anglia to the Chilterns, may be named after the Iceni.

The Icknield way is claimed to be the oldest road in Britain, and dates back centuries.

The Roman routes from Wall and Alcester were together named Icknield Street during the later Medieval period, though the implication that they were viewed as a single route by the Romans may be misleading, and it is possible that the road from Droitwich was originally the more important of the two southern routes.

The line of Icknield or Ryknild Street, a Roman road running northwards from Alcester via Metchley Fort in Edgbaston towards Sutton Coldfield and beyond, can be traced through the eastern edge of the district.

Streetly is named after Icknield Street, a Roman road, of which parts can still be found in Sutton Park.

Although there were no large Roman settlements in the immediate area of modern-day Birmingham, there was a fort, Metchley Fort near the site of the University of Birmingham, and Icknield Street runs via this site through the western suburbs of the city.

The Romano-British population undoubtedly worshipped at pagan temples such as that excavated at Coleshill a few miles outside the modern city boundary, which was possibly dedicated to Minerva or Mars, and that identified at Letocetum where Icknield Street crosses Watling Street between Birmingham and Lichfield, also apparently dedicated to Minerva.

Although no archeological evidence has been found, the presence of the Old English prefix wīc-in Witton ( wīc-tūn ) suggests that it may have been the site of a significant Romano-British vicus or settlement, which would have been adjacent to the crossing of the River Tame by Icknield Street at Perry Barr.

The dyke crossed three important Roman roads, including the ancient Icknield Way, and may thus have served as a way of controlling trade and movement in and out of the area.