The Oxford to Cambridge Arc 6
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Alternatives to the Oxford to Cambridge arc
The Icknield Way
Herman Moll, England and Wales, 1710
Herman Moll by William Stukeley (1723)
The key to Herman Moll’s map of England and Wales shows that he used a solid double line for Ogilby’s ‘Great or Direct’ roads, and a slightly thinner equivalent for the ‘Principal Cross Roads’. Intriguingly, he also used a single line to indicate ‘Roads not to be found in Mr. Ogilby’s Book’.
It is not known exactly to what extent he has filled in Ogilby’s omissions, nor is there any indication of the status of these roads. Were they as important, or as frequently used, as Ogilby’s roads or do they represent a set of less important roads? He indicated them as a single thin line, which, pictorially, might suggest a lesser road; but he also needed a way to distinguish his own contribution from Ogilby’s.
Moll offered a single thin line which is a very servicable route from Oxford to Cambridge.
This route is ancient in origin, as for most of its length Moll followed the Icknield Way. (I have indicated Moll’s single line route with the red arrows)
Many modern roads follow the Icknield Way, for example the B488/B489 from Aston Clinton to Dunstable and the A505 from Baldock to Royston.
Moll’s Icknield Way route passed through:
. Tame (Thame)
. From Thame, Moll headed straight for the Chiltern Hills, most notably cutting out Aylesbury.
In the pre-turnpike era this probably meant passing through Towersey, before crossing an area of marshland in the Aylesbury Vale to reach Richborough (Princes Risborough), situated on the chalk of the Chilterns.
. Richborough (Princes Risborough)
. Wendover
. Tring
. Ivingo (Ivinghoe)
. Dunstable
. Luton
. Hitching (Hitchin)
. Baldock
From Baldock the direct route to Cambridge would be via the Icknield Way through Royston. Why Moll did not make this connection is open to speculation. It could be that his Icknield Way thin line was not specifically a connection between Oxford and Cambridge, or that the roadbetween Baldock and Royston was unusable in his time.
Whatever the reason, Moll’s thin line route broke off from Baldock to join the Ermine Way at Buntingford. Travellers to Cambridge could proceed north along this road to Royston, where the road forked north-eastwards to Cambridge.
© John Dunn.
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Wheatley Bridge
Alternatives to the Oxford to Cambridge arc
The Icknield Way
John Cary's route from his 1815 New Itinerary (part 1 Oxford to Thame)
As an alternative to the Buckingham and Bedford route, Cary offered the Icknield Way option from Oxford to Cambridge.
Unlike Moll, however, he headed to the Chiltern Hills via Aylesbury, probably in order to avoid the marshy land between Thame and Princes Risborough. Also unlike Moll, Cary had the newly established turnpikes to follow.
Cary left Oxford from its eastern side, passing through Headington to Wheatley on the Stokenchurch, Wheatley and Begbroke Turnpike (1719).
The road originally took the Old London Road across Shotover Hill, but in 1773 the Trustees of the Stokenchurch, Wheatley and Begbroke Turnpike resolved to apply to Parliament “for power to divert the Road, and entirely avoid Shotover Hill”, and in 1788 sought “to impower the Trustees to compleat a Road from the Bottom of Cheney-Lane, upon Headington-Hill, to Forest-Hill…, to be used instead of the present Road up Cheney-Lane and Shotover-Hill”. The new route is the one we recognise today as the A40, albeit with a number of by-pass amendments.
Cary crossed the River Thame at Wheatley Bridge. A ford here was first recorded in 956, but the first Wheatley bridge was constructed in the reign of Henry II 1154-1189. The bridge was rebuilt in 1286. The bridge was again reconstructed in 1800 and remains largely the one we know today, which served as a crossing of the River Thame for the A40 until 1964. The road it carries now is by-passed and declassified.
After Wheatley Bridge the route took a left turn along ‘Thame Lane’ (the modern A418) towards Thame, passing just to the North of Albury and through North Weston. This road was not turnpiked at the time of Cary's 1815 Itinerary, though it was later marked as ‘intended’ on Bryant’s 1823 map of Oxfordshire. It was not until 1838 that the road between Wheatley Bridge and Thame was turnpiked by the Aylesbury, Thame and Shillingford Turnpike Trust (1770), 68 years after the trust was established .
The route passed along the northern end of Thame's High Street, to leave via Bell Lane and Aylesbury Road.
The Icknield Way
John Cary's route from his 1815 New Itinerary (part 2 Thame to Aylesbury)
Dinton Castle is located just north of the village of Dinton, in Buckinghamshire and was built as an eyecatcher from the Dinton Hall estate, by Sir John Vanhattern in 1769. He used the castle to exhibit his collection of fossils, ammonites, embedded in the limestone walls.
There are two options to consider after Thame.
John Cary’s own 1801 map of Buckinghamshire shows the main route to Aylesbury passing through Haddenham to continue South of the modern A418 to Bixthorpe (Bigstrup), through Dynton village (Dinton), through Upton and on to Stone.
Cary’s 1801 map of Buckinghamshire highlighting the Thame to Aylesbury road, through Haddenham and south of the modern A418.
The fact that Cary specifically includes the tiny hamlet of Bixthorpe in his 1815 itinerary suggests that he is following his own map’s route.
The modern OS Map shows this route as a collection of tracks, bridleways and footpaths. (Bixthorpe was a small settlement to the west of Westlington. The present name of Bigstrup is probably derived from it.)
The second option to consider is prompted by John Greenwood’s map of 1834, which shows the main road following the route of the modern A418 betweenThame and Aylesbury.
John Greenwood 1834 map of Buckinghamshire highlighting the Thame to Aylesbury road north of Dinton and Upton. Notably, Haddenham is not named.
This suggests that some time between 1815 and 1834 the main road between Thame and Aylesbury shifted north from the one described by Cary to that in use today as the A418.
The road between Thame and Aylesbury in Cary’s time was maintained as the Aylesbury, Thame, Oxford and Shillingford Turnpike, established in 1770. The change of route would have been under the auspices of the turnpike trust.
Given that the A418 runs across the top of a ridge, there is every likelihood that the road shifted back to an ancient route with origins much earlier than the turnpike era. The turnpike trust might well have made the move in order to take advantage of the better drained land along theridge. Similarly, the road south of Westlington, Dinton, Upton and Stone, which appears as direct as any other on the map, may have been dismissed as an option because of its low lying and ill-drained nature. However, this will be the subject of further investigation.
Following Stone, the turnpike that Cary followed is the same as the A418, skirting around Hartwell House with a sharp bend in the road and on to Aylesbury.
Cary's route entered Aylesbury via, appropriately enough, Oxford Road and leftit via the High Street to follow Akeman Street, the Roman road, along what is now the A41 and, previously, the Sparrows Herne Turnpike (1762).
The Icknield Way
John Cary's route from his 1815 New Itinerary (part 3 Aylesbury to Hitchin)
 
From Aylesbury, Cary passed through Walton (then a separate village, now subsumed into Aylesbury), to follow the Sparrow’s Herne Turnpike (1762) to Aston Clinton and Tring.
There had once been a trust established to administer Icknield Way as a turnpike in two districts, from Tring to Baldock and from there to Bourn Bridge near Cambridge. However, this had been abandoned as a turnpike in 1790, apart from the section from Royston to Bourn Bridge. Cary’s 1815 itinerary was therefore to follow parish maintained roads until he reached Baldock.
At Tring, Cary left the Sparrow’s Herne Turnpike to travel north and join the Upper Icknield Way en route to The Folly. This was presumably an Inn in Cary’s day, but by the time of the 1896 OSMap it was being described as Folly Farm. The property is currently Folly Farm Bed and Breakfast.
Cary continued along the Upper Icknield Way, skirting around Ivinghoe Beacon, to Dunstable where the ancient road crosses Roman Watling Street.
Cary kept on the Icknield Way to the former villages of Leagrave and Biscot (now subsumed by Luton).
Threading through the streets of Luton, the route can still be followed to this day.
The Icknield Way leaves the A505 Dunstable to Luton road just after the M1 crosses over. This is Stoneygate Road, which becomes Roman Road, which in turn becomes Icknield Road.
The Icknield Way can be traced on towards the north-east, but somewhere at this point Cary left the old road, turning to Biscot and on to Stopsley.
Cary’s goal was to cross the River Lea at the old ford at the foot of Stockingstone Road. To this end I can see that Cary had two options.
The first option was to leave the old road where it met Leagrave Road (now the B579).
He turned right down Leagrave Road, then left towards Biscot Windmill. (On this site now stands the Biscot Mill public house and the Biscot Mill Veterinary Centre.) Bearing in mind that Cary’s route at this stage was along quiet country lanes, the latter left turn was along what is now known as Woodland Avenue and, later, Montrose Avenue. These modern roads take you to the foot of Stockingstone Road (A5228) and the crossing of the River Lea.
 Biscot Windmill
Alternatively the second option was to continue straight on across the B579, along Icknield Road, turning right to Biscot along Limbury Road. A lane, now lost, would have connected Biscot to the River Lea crossing at the foot of Stockingstone Road.
Once over the River Lea, Stockingstone Road (A5228) climbs the Chiltern chalk escarpment, where a great bend in the road alleviates the steepness, to join the Hitchin Road (A505).
The road from Stopsley to Hitchin was never turnpiked, but running along the chalk of the Chilterns, parallel to what is now designated ‘officially’ to be the Icknield Way as a walker’s path, the route would have been well drained and good for coach travel.
The road to Hitchin, through Great Offley, was part of the broader Icknield Way as it was once thought of in the ancient past. In many places the track consisted of several routes, particularly as it passed along the line of the escarpment of the Chilterns, probably because of the seasonal usage, and possibly because of the amount of traffic, especially of herds or flocks of livestock.
The route passed through Hitchin via Tollhouse Street (an echo of the abandoned turnpike trust noted above), Bridge Street and Queen Street, to leave the town via Walsworth Road.
The Icknield Way
John Cary's route from his 1815 New Itinerary (part 4 Hitchin to Cambridge)
White Horse Street (B656) on the Cary Itinerary through Baldock
After Hitchin Cary crossed the River Purwell at Walsworth, which was near the Ship Inn (now called The Millstream).
From here he followed what is now the A505 to Baldock, just clipping the north end of Letchworth village en route. Letchworth now, of course, is a large garden city and the A505 passes through its suburbs.
In Baldock, Cary’s route, now the B656, crossed over the Great North Road, which passed through the centre of the town as the A1 until the 1968 by-pass, to pick up the ‘official’ Icknield Way passing by Odsey Grange on the way to Royston. After Baldock, today’s B656 rejoined the A505 which by-passed Baldock in 2006.
With the road from Baldock to Royston, Cary rejoined turnpiked roads for the first time since Tring. The Baldock and Bournbridge Turnpike was established in 1769. (I noted above that the trust which maintained a turnpike from Tring to Bourn Bridge near Cambridge had wound up some years before Cary’s Itinerary.)
Now screened from the main road which passes close by, Odsey Grange was noted by Cary as a major landmark on his route. Odsey Grange was a monastic grange to Warden Abbey in Bedfordshire. Odsey House was built in the 18th century as a sporting lodge when it was owned by the Dukes of Devonshire. In 1793 the properties passed into the Fordham family, then bankers in Royston. In 1865 Herbert Fordham added a mansion to the original layout of house, sporting lodge and jockey house.
Cary’s route continued along the Icknield Way into the centre of Royston, where it crossed Ermine Street.
Cary’s next instruction after Royston was simply ‘Cambridge’, leaving a 13 mile stretch with no further landmarks mentioned. In Cary’s time this instruction meant following the Hauxton and Dunsbridge Turnpike (1725), now the A10, as far as Trumpington before transferring to the Stump Cross Turnpike (1763), now the A1301, and into Cambridge.
Turnpike Gates encountered by Cary on his Icknield Way 1815 Oxford to Cambridge Itinerary
Gates encountered from Oxford to Wheatley on the Stokenchurch, Wheatley and Begbroke Turnpike (1719)
London Road at the junction with Windmill Lane, Headington. (Now A420. Was A40.) SP 545 071
Barton Side Gate, London Road at junction with Barton Road, Headington. (Now A420. Was A40.)
SP 551 073
Bryant on his 1823 map of Oxfordshire (extract below) shows a toll bar (TB) immediately east of Wheatley Bridge (was A40, now unclassified), and just before the left turn taken by Cary along Thame Lane. This is not included on the turnpikes.org.uk website.
Gates encountered on the Aylesbury, Thame, Oxford & Shillingford Turnpike (1770)
Just before the River Thame crossing at Thame Mill, Aylesbury Road, Thame. SP 7083 0701 (A418).
On the approach to Aylesbury town centre, just before the bridge over the railway, the Thame Road (Aylesbury) Gate, on Oxford Road, Aylesbury. SP 8107 1333 (A418).
Gates encountered on the Sparrow’s Herne Turnpike (1762)
The Aylesbury (New Road) Gate, at the High Street junction with Walton Street and Park Street. SP 828 136 (A41).
TheWeston Gate near Weston Turville, at the junction with the lane to Broughton Mill. SP 847 132, Akeman Street Roman Road (A41).
Cary did not follow turnpike roads until he reached Baldock, where he joined the Baldock and Bournbridge Turnpike (1769).
Gates encountered on the Baldock and Bournbridge Turnpike
The Baldock Gate on Icknield Way East in Baldock. SP 246 342 (Unclassified). This is a strange one, because Icknield Way East runs tothe north of what I thought was the route of the turnpike through Baldock i.e. along White Horse Street and Royston Road (B656). Further research is needed.
Gates encountered on the Hauxton and Dunsbridge Turnpike (1725)
Justout of Royston, blocking a lane that might facilitate the avoidance of tolls, the Melbourn Gate at Greenlow, Melbourn Bury, TL 370 433 (A10).
Hauxton Gate, just north of the bridge over the River Cam at Hauxton Mill. TL 431 527 (A10).
Where the Trumpington Gate stood Cary passed by the old toll house that still stands at 60 and 62, High Street, Trumpington, at the junction with Maris Lane. The tollhouse on the west side of the High Street was built in 1811, with a weighbridge added to its right in 1863. TL 44557 54749 (A1309).
The Toll House and Weighbridge House, Trumpington, in the 1920s. Percy Robinson.
© John Dunn.
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19th century photograph of the Britannia Inn, mentioned by Paterson
Alternatives to the Oxford to Cambridge arc
The Icknield Way
Daniel Paterson's route from Paterson’s Roads, 18th Edition, 1826
 
Patterson offered an alternative Bristol to Norwich route which had embedded within it the same Icknield Way route as described by Cary above, with the following minor descriptive differences.
Unlike Cary, Paterson made a specific mention of the St Clements toll gate at the outset of his journey.
Again unlike Cary, he also included Headington, mentioning too the Britannia Inn, which still exists to this day.
 Today's Britannia Inn
Paterson omitted Wheatley from his route, which was quite accurate as the new turnpike road, completed after 1788, effectively by-passed Wheatley on the way to Wheatley Bridge.
The road originally took the Old London Road across Shotover Hill, but in 1773 the Trustees of the Stokenchurch, Wheatley and Begbroke Turnpike resolved to apply to Parliament “for power to divert the Road, and entirely avoid Shotover Hill”, and in 1788 sought “to impower the Trustees to compleat a Road from the Bottom of Cheney-Lane, upon Headington-Hill, to Forest-Hill…, to be used instead of the present Roadup Cheney-Lane and Shotover-Hill”. The new route is the one we recognise today as the A40, albeit with a number of by-pass amendments.
Between Thame and Aylesbury Paterson omitted to include Bixthorpe, Dinton, Stone and Hartwell.
In contradistinction to Cary, between Aylesbury and Dunstable Paterson chose not to include Walton and The Folly. Again unlike Cary, Paterson mentioned specifically Beacon Hill and the River Ouzel crossing. The latter is very close to its source where the Icknield Way crosses, making the crossing small, however it does mark the boundary between Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.
Between Dunstable and Hitchin there was some difference between Paterson and Cary in the Luton area. Whereas Cary stuck close to the Icknield Way, passing through Leagrave, Biscott and Stopsley before reaching Great Offley and Hitchin, Paterson simply states Luton, heading north out of the town on the Bedford road (now the A6), before joining the same Hitchin road as Cary, but omitting to include Stopsley. Instead, Paterson included Lilley en route to Offley and Hitchin.
It is possible that Paterson expected the traveller to pass north of Stopsley on the Bedford road, before turning right to Lilley along what are today minor roads and bridleways passing by Whitehill Farm. As mentioned above, the road to Hitchin was never turnpiked, so the route in the days of Paterson and Cary may not have been obvious.
All the subsequent landmarks and towns on Paterson’s route to Cambridge match those of Cary.
© John Dunn.
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Alternatives to the Oxford to Cambridge arc
Leighton Buzzard route
John Cary, New Itinerary, 1819 edn.
By the 19th edition of his Itinerary, Cary had replaced the Icknield Way route from Oxford to Cambridge with another which passed through Leighton Buzzard.
The route began with the same journey from Oxford to Alylesbury as described in Cary’s Icknield Way option, described above. It was after Aylesbury that things changed.
Appropriately enough, Cary’s route entered Aylesbury via Oxford Road and left via Cambridge Street. I have not yet assessed when the roads were given these very relevant names, but my best presumption to date is at the start of the turnpike era.
The route passed through Bierton, Rowsham and Wing en route to Leighton Buzzard.
Cambridge Street in Aylesbury becomes Bierton Road, which was the Aylesbury and Hockliffe Turnpike, established in 1810 (now the A418). The relative lateness of this turnpike possibly accounts for its inclusion as a route option only as late as the 1819 edition of Cary’s Itinerary.
The sharp left bend, dogleg right and left again after Bierton, part of the original turnpike, were straightened out on the A418 in the 1950s.
At Wing Cary followed the turnpike down the east side of the village, rather than down the High Street, as we do on the same road today.
The Aylesbury and Hockliffe Turnpike entered Leighton Buzzard via Wing Road, turned right to cross the Grand Junction Canal (now Grand Union) and River Ouzel on Canal Road (now Leighton Road), to pass down Bridge Street, High Street, Market Square and Hockliffe Street (all now by-passed by an inner ring road), to leave the town via Hockcliffe Road (the present A4012).
At Hockliffe, Cary’s route crossed the staggered cross roads, just as it does today, and headed for Woburn on what was the Hockliffe and Woburn Turnpike (1706), which became the start of the old A50, but is now the B5704.
The present course of the Woburn road from Hockliffe to just South of Milton Bryan, dates from the early 1830s when it moved somewhat east of its old course. The old line is still partially visible at times as cropmarks in the neighbouring fields.
The turnpike could not continue across the Duke of Bedford’s Woburn Park and had instead to pass around the western and northern edges. The Park was and remains protected from the turnpike by the construction of a huge boundary wall, which was completed in 1798.
Cary’s route turned right at Woburn to join the Bedford and Woburn Turnpike of 1777 (later the A418 and now the continuation of the B5704), to continue through Ridgmont and Ampthill.
Cary entered Ampthill on Woburn Road (now the B530), and followed a left turn under the direction of the town pump (see photograph). The water pump, an obelisk in stone, was designed by Sir William Chambers and erected by Earl Ossory in the mid-1780s. The pump continues to serve as asignpost giving the names and distances of important towns in each direction – London, Bedford, Woburn and Dunstable. Also among the pump’s roles was that of street lamp, a lantern being positioned on the top.
Cary’s route continued along the Bedford and Woburn Turnpike (B530), passing through How End and Elstow to reach the end of the turnpike just south of the main bridge over the River Great Ouse in Bedford.
From Bedford, Cary followed the route to Cambridge that was the final leg of his other Oxford to Cambridge itinerary via Buckingham, Newport Pagnell and Bedford.
Daniel Paterson, Paterson’s Roads, 18th Edition,1826
The Leighton Buzzard route became Paterson’s principal route to Cambridge from Oxford.
His route after Aylesbury was the same as Cary’s, but with the following descriptive differences.
Patersonincluded Burcot between Wing and Leighton Buzzard. Burcot is a village South-West of Leighton Buzzard on Cary’s 1801 map of Buckinghamshire. This is the only map on which I have seen such a Burcot. If Cary had made a mistake on his map, then this is evidence that Paterson used Cary’s map when preparing his route.
Did Paterson use Cary’s map showing Burcot?
Paterson added Milton Bryant (Milton Bryan) beween Hockliffe and Woburn. The village is in fact about a 1/4 mile East of the turnpike (now A4012).
Following the same route between Ampthill and Bedford, Paterson included Kempston Hardwick as his sole landmark village, whereas Cary only included How End and Elstow.
After Bedford, Paterson stayed north of the River Great Ouse, passing through Goldington to Great Barford and Roxton, before following the St Neots route to Cambridge. On the map this appears to be the obvious route of choice and one wonders why Cary chose to cross to the south of the river at Bedford, only to re-cross it again at Great Barford after the Willington fork.
© John Dunn.
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