Monument record 0414600000 - LOWER ICKNIELD WAY

Plan Form - Linear.
Course of Prehistoric & Roman road passing through Bucks. Lower Icknield Way, Lewknor-Aston Clinton, 13.5 miles (Viatores road 168B). RAF station at Halton has obliterated last 2.5 miles into Aston Clinton (B1).
One of Britain's most important trackways, part of it Romanised (description)(B2).
NGRs from above (B3).
Existence of the Icknield Way as a long-distance Prehistoric routeway suggested to be a creation of medieval chroniclers, mythologised by later writers (B4).
Course of the Roman road at Aston Clinton found in evaluation and subsequent excavation at Stablebridge Road [see CASS 07686]. Pottery finds from the flanking double ditches suggest construction in the late 1st century AD, with the ditches silting up relatively early but with the road itself possibly continuing in use to the 7th century (B6).
Geophysical survey by Headland Archaeology in January 2016 in advance of proposed housing development west of Monks Risborough indentified two clear linear anomalies on a NE-SW orientation, parallel with the B4009 Lower Icknield Way in Fields 3 and 5. In Field 5 the northernmost anomaly corresponds closely to the route of the Roman road and is probably caused by a soil-filled ditch flanking the southern edge of the road. The southernmost anomaly is similar in magnitude to the probable roadside ditch, appears on the same NE-SW alignment and probably respresents a second flanking ditch. The Roman road was also identified in the north of Field 3 as NE-SW aligned parallel linear anomalies caused by soil-filled ditches. The ditches are 17.5m apart with the southernmost corresponding to the projected extension of the northernmost anomaly in Field 5. The anomalies do not extend to the western field boundary and it is unclear whether there is insufficient magnetic contrast within this part of the field for the ditches to register as magnetic anomalies, or whether the archaeological deposits have been completely removed by modern cultivation. No anomalies were identified to locate the road surface, possibly due to similar materials being used for road construction and the prevailing subsoil, although discrete anomalies in both fields may be due to spreads of magnetically enhanced material. See report for detail (B7).