February 1, 1899. 



KNOWLEDGE 



4b 



street, pointing across a thousand years to the march 

 of the " heathen men " (Danes) of the Anglo-Saxon 

 Chronicles. 



In Robert Morden's map of Norfolk, in 1(105, the 

 present Norwich turnpike between Thetford and Larling- 

 ford is not marked. There is the road to Croxton, but 

 the Norwich highway crosses the river at Nun's Bridge, 

 and runs north-eastward by way of Castle Lane and Green 

 Lane, and further by a road which can now be but im- 

 perfectly traced. The present high road and Magdalen 

 Street are shown as lanes, between the Croxton and the 

 then Norwich turnpikes. In 1749 the present road was 



Fio. 3. — Ihe Green Lane, near Thetford, showing the Icknield Way 

 as an unmade track, banked on either side. 



shown on a map of the county in addition to the old one. 

 This was the case in 1777, but in 1.S08 the old road is 

 omitted, and the same in Laurie and Whittle's map of 

 Norfolk and Suffolk in 1811. However, in a map by Mr. 

 Thomas Dix, presumably early in the present century, a 

 continuation of the Green Lane is shown running parallel 

 with the present highway until uniting with Peddar's Way. 

 This road is also shown on one of Gall and Inglis' most 

 recent maps of Norfolk, although Green Lane is omitted. 

 From the northern end of Green Lane to its junction with 

 the present Thetford- Norwich highway, presumably to the 

 south-west of Larlingford, it is a matter of some difficulty to 

 trace the course of the Icknield Way. In one of the fields 

 between Green Lane and Eoudham Heath, five hawthorns 

 would seem to indicate the ancient track, which is con- 

 tinued by three in the next. On the heathland itself the 

 road can be imperfectly traced by the old banks, chiefly in 

 the near neighbourhood of that well-known British track, 

 the Peddar's Way, which it crosses about half a mile from 

 where the Peddar's Way is joined by the Drove, another 

 British way leading from the fenland. So overgrown 

 is the Icknield Way by ling and bracken, during the two 

 hundred years that it has been superseded by the present 

 turnpike, that it is difficult to dogmatise as to its exact course 

 hereabouts. A Bridgham tradition makes mention of a 

 waggon-road which formerly ran over Eoudham Heath. 

 This undoubtedly refers to the Icknield Way. In May, 1010, 

 the great battle of Ringmere, in which Sweyn the Dane 

 defeated Ulfketel the Saxon, was fought on this heath. 

 There was undoubtedly a British trackway between Thet- 



ford and Norwich, connected with the British town of 

 Attleburgh, and passing a tumulus at Cringleford. There 

 was also a British settlement at Wymondham, and near 

 the Way was the great camp at Buckenham. That Norwich 

 Castle HiU was one of the most noted British earthworks 

 in East Anglia is undisputed, and its connection with the 

 Icknield Way has long been a matter of presumption. 

 Between Thetford and Norwich the road crosses the Thet, 

 at Larlingford, a name given in later days, but when fords 

 were stiU an important feature in travelling ; and the Yare 

 at Cringleford (from the O.N. Kringla, a curve, the river 

 here bending in the form of a horse-shoe). Relics of life 

 in early Britain have been found not infrequently on the 

 line of route between Thetford and Norwich. In 1815 a 

 quantity of bronze weapons were found in a vUlage near 

 Attleborough. Five axes of flint were also found by the 

 side of the river at Hargham, and similar instruments have 

 been found at Attleborough, as well as a small disc of 

 baked clay, about one-sixth of an inch thick and three 

 inches in diameter (Roman). 



From the preceding portion of its course one can reason- 

 ably conclude that the route between Norwich Castle Hill 

 (chalk) and the sea, would also follow the chalk formation. 

 Mr. Arthur Taylor favoured a route near Hickling, without 

 further particularizing its course, but the most reasonable 

 and logical way seems to be by Sprowston, Rackheath, 

 Wroxham, Hoveton, Beeston St. Lawrence, Smallburgh, 

 Stalham, and Happisburgh — a route which keeps to the 

 chalk and avoids the marshland of the Broad district, 

 which in pre-Roman times was undoubtedly almost wholly 

 under water. In support of this it may be mentioned that 

 Hoveton is derived from the Old Norse Hof, a temple, 

 presumably showing a settlement here prior to Roman 

 times {viile " Rye's History of Norfolk ") ; Smallburgh was 

 probably a small Roman outpost. Near Stalham is a 

 mound and ditch known as the " Devil's Ditch," which 

 are most certainly artificial, and are probably British 

 earthworks. They are situated about a quarter of a mile 

 from the highway, and would guard the Wai/fonI, the 

 " ford of the way" over the River Ant, a continuation of 

 the series of earthworks guarding fords, as Rampart Field 

 at Lackford, and the Castle HUl at Thetford. About 

 twenty years ago a splendid British shield was dug up in 

 the marshland at Sutton, and Cotman narrates the dis- 

 covery of flint implements at Ingham. Mr. W. H. Cooke, 

 of Stalham, thinks the road from that place to Happisburgh 

 the most probable continuation of the Icknield Way. 

 Happisburgh was a Roman station, and was thought by 

 Mr. Rye to be the southern termination of the coast road 

 to Brancaster. 



For assistance in philology, I must record my indebted- 

 ness to Mr. J. J. Coulton, of Pentney, Norfolk ; and for 

 local information to Messrs. G. Gathercole, of Thetford, 

 and Mr. W. H. Cooke, of Stalham. The illustrations are 

 from photographs specially taken by Mr. R. A. Howard, 

 of Thetford. 



By John H. Cooke, r.L.s., f.u.s. 



A solution of formaldehyde containing one part in from 

 one hundred to one hundred and fifty parts of water makes an 

 admirable medium for hardening tissues. The longer the tissues 

 are left in it the better are the results. 



The glare which is usually associated with low powers and a 

 bull's-eye condenser may be modified and diffused by laying the 

 slide containing the object on a slip of ground glass. This 

 device not only eliminates the flare, but it also readers the work 

 of observation much less tiring to the eyes. 



