Edward Thomas’ country

Knocking Knoll and Pegsdon

The Icknield Way joins the B655 – turn right onto this road for a bit on the grassy verge. Shortly, you’ll see the Icknield Way This is one of a series of five guides heading to the left. Follow this path produced for an exhibition: up the hill towards Tingley Wood, Dreamers, Radicals & Satirists: eventually you’ll come to a T- junction. Hertfordshire’s inspired writers (February to June 2020). At the junction, have a look for Knocking Knoll Long Barrow on the Other walks in this series feature the right. The Stone Age burial mound landscapes of Forster, Bulwer-Lytton, was partially excavated in 1856 by Shaw and Orwell. William Ransom from . Turn left. Before you get to Tingley Maps are also available on the Field Plantation, take the path ViewRanger app, which also downhill on your right. Follow this has bonus images and audio with the field to your left, turning (search for BritishSchoolsMuseum). left at the waymark post follow the wide track which will lead you to the opposite corner from where you started. British Schools Museum 41 Queen Street On this path, you’ll pass a small Hitchin SG4 9TS A circular walk wooded area on your right and then the path leads to a farm road. See website for events, activities Pegsdon to and opening times Turn left onto this road and in no The Icknield Way time you join Pegsdon Way. If you turn right onto this road it will take you back to the pub. and back Photo: Flikr – Peter O’Connor

www.britishschoolsmuseum.org.uk Pegsdon The walk starts in Pegsd0n. From the The Live and Let Live pub, turn right and follow the road, turning right Edward Thomas’ country onto the B655 (Hitchin Road).

Follow in Edward Thomas’ Ignore the first sign for the footsteps along the famous Pegsdon Hills on your left and Icknield Way. The walk is in the take the second one into the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Icknield Way Nature Reserve with its border country, taking in the Turn left on to the Icknield Way. archaeological and natural wildflower meadows and This is an easy route all the way back chalk hills. landscape. Do ensure you have a to the B655, now called Pirton Road. map. Take the path straight ahead, The Icknield Way is said to be one of Distance: 4 miles / 7.25 km following it along the the oldest routes still in use in the country. One of four highways Terrain: Fairly easy, some inclines contours of the hill. It will Duration: 2 hours mentioned in the 12thC (the four lead you towards Hoo Bit, Map: OS Explorer Map 193 & being , , Stevenage or free ViewRanger app Telegraph Hill and the and Icknield Way). Parking: Pegsdon Way, SG5 3JX Icknield Way. The route ran from to . Today, the Icknield Way Edward Thomas (1878-1917) Path offers walkers a chance to walk Thomas was a poet who wrote much of this route. extensively on travel. The route goes through , An obsessive walker from near Hitchin and other sections can childhood, he loved the solitude and be walked on the Orwell walk in this natural beauty of the pathways of series. southern England, including the Icknield Way. He believed that a receptive mind could connect to the voices of the past by walking England’s well-trodden paths.