Peddars Way
The Peddars Way is a long distance footpath in Norfolk, and a short stretch in Suffolk. It is 46 miles long and follows the route of a Roman road.
It has been suggested by more than one writer that the road was not created by the Romans but was an ancient trackway, a branch or extension of the Icknield Way, used and remodelled by the Romans.[1] The name is said to be derived from the Mediæval Latin pedester – on foot. It is first mentioned on a map of 1587 AD
Route and path links
The Peddars Way starts at Knettishall Heath in Suffolk (near the Norfolk-Suffolk border, about 4 miles east of Thetford), and it links with the Norfolk Coast Path at Holme-next-the-Sea. Combined with the Norfolk Coast Path, it forms the Peddars Way & Norfolk Coast Path National Trail; the two paths together run for 97 miles.
This is one of four long distance footpaths which, when combined, run from Lyme Regis to Hunstanton and are referred to as the Greater Ridgeway. At Knettishall Heath the Peddars Way links with the Icknield Way Path for 110 miles south west to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire.[2]
Guide and waymarks
A detailed 144-page guide, including 1:25 000 maps from the Ordnance Survey, and described south to north, is published in the series of National Trail Guides.[3] The trail is very well marked with two general types of waymarker along the length of the route. At junctions there are signs marked ‘Peddars Way’ on plain wood fingerposts. Elsewhere white, yellow and green discs are used bearing the acorn sign used on such long distance routes.
Folklore
The Peddars Way was traditionally supposed to be a haunt of the ghostly East Anglian hound, Black Shuck.[4][5]
Pictures
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Roman road and tumulus, near Anmer -
Peddars Way signpost -
Knettishall Heath -
near Little Cressingham -
Massingham Heath -
near Sedgeford
_and_Tumulus_-_geograph.org.uk_-_125658.jpg)
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Peddars Way) |
- Location map: 52°43’11"N, 0°40’43"E
- National Trails' Peddars Way/Norfolk Coast Path page
- Walking Peddars Way Information for walkers
References
- ↑ Maxwell, Donald (1925) Unknown Norfolk, London, The Bodley Head
- ↑ Icknield Way Path, Icknield Way Association.
- ↑ National Trail Guides: Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path, Bruce Robinson (Aurum Press) 2009 (revised edition)
- ↑ Day, James Wentworth (1958). The Ghost Hunter's Game Book, Muller)
- ↑ http://www.hiddenea.com/shuckland/