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A lost Fenland trade route.

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 The village of Yaxley is located where the northwest edge of the Cambridgeshire peat fens meets the clay plateau running north towards Peterborough. Although the medieval village may have been located around St Peter's church and manor farm on higher ground to the west of the present village, later development of the village moved down to the base of the clay ridge around the 5m O.D. contour. Modern development has slowly expanded back up the ridge towards the north. Yaxley's location just off the Great North Road (Roman Ermine Street) with access to the fen waterways, led to it becoming an inland medieval port and marketplace, as a holding of Thorney Abbey. Norman Cross, one of the four hundreds of the old county of Huntingdonshire, was administered from Yaxley: until the dissolution of the abbeys the Abbot held court there as Lord of the manor. [1]  The main thoroughfare of the modern village is Broadway, which runs along the top of the clay ridge overlooking the fens. In ...
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The Squire Dynasty (Cambs/Hunts/Northants)

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 The Squire surname appears to have been fairly common in parts of Cambs/Hunts/Northants and Norfolk in C17th/C18/C19th and earlier, with the marriage of a Thomas Squire being recorded in Peterborough in 1629. The family may have originated in the Midlands, but more work is required on that.  The Squires certainly appear as industrious business people and landowners. Between 1726-30, a Thomas Squire and his partner Robert Wright were contracted to make the river Nene navigable between Peterborough and Oundle, then later down to Thrapston.  Baileys British Directory for St Neots in 1784, includes James Squire (merchant) and Thomas Squire (plumber and glazier), while the Universal British Directory in 1798 lists Thomas W Squire and William Squire - both merchants.  In 1710 a document mentions 'coals brought by Squires boats' (to Peterborough), while another of 1769 about the transport of timber for the navy on the Nene notes 'Mr Wright Squire who has many lighters'....
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Lost lanes of Linton (Derbys) Pt6

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Some further Wallway street name research.  In the second part of the Via Devana blog series, I considered some possible options for the Roman route's continuation beyond the junction with Ryknild Street and its use as a salt road. One route to the northwest might have passed through the Cheshire salt producing region. Women extracting salt from brinewater springs in Nantwich were referred to as 'Wallers' in the town's medieval records. [1] An inference could be made that the Linton Wallway might have been a strand of one of the west/east salt routes like the Walton Way, which ran just to the south of Linton, or that it ran through an area which was wet, where groundwater welled up.  Another perhaps more reasonable explanation came to light while studying preparatory Ordnance Survey drawings of west Cambridgeshire. [2] To the east of Great Gransden is an area of rough pasture labeled 'Walland Common'. The English Place Name Society (EPNS) [3] gives 'land...
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The 'Via Devana' - a 'lost road' found! (Pt2)

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  A 'lost road' lost again!   In part one of the 'lost road' blog, I traced the route of the Via Devana from the south of Cambridge through to Ryknild Street in Staffordshire, by way of Leicester and a River Trent crossing on the Derbys/Staffs border. In part two, I consider some possible options for the route continuing to the west and/or northwest of Ryknild Street.  After meeting Ryknild Street, it is unclear exactly which direction the Via Devana route may have taken. Turning to the southwest a traveller could have reached Watling Street at Wall (Letocetum), then proceeded via Water Eaton (Pennocrucium) and Whitchurch (Mediolanum) to Chester (Deva). The alternative would have been to turn northeast on Ryknild Street to reach Littlechester (Derventio) at Derby. From Littlechester, a road ran due west to Rocester, then on to Upper Teen where it turned to the northwest to Chesterton north of Newcastle under Lyme. Although the route from here is again unclear; it could ...
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The 'Via Devana' - a 'lost road' found! (Pt1)

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 The name Via Devana was coined by the 18th century Cambridge antiquarian Dr Charles Mason and was said to be a route which connected Roman Colchester (Camulodunum) to Roman Chester (Deva) [1] . Ivan Margary [2] described the route from Godmanchester (Durovigutum) to Colchester as 'Via Devana' and numbered it road 24. Early Ordnance Survey (O.S.) maps show what was the Cambridge Road, then the A1198 and now largely the A1307/A14 Godmanchester to Cambridge road as 'Via Devana'. The route follows a track known as 'Worsted' or 'Wool Street' which runs south from Cambridge as green lanes and tracks. At Worsted Lodge on the modern A11 it crossed a Romanised section of the ancient 'Icknield Way'.  In 1959 a 10.5-mile (16.8km) length of gas main was laid along Worsted Street, the work being monitored by the archaeologist P.C. Dewhurst [3] . The trenching machine used produced a clean 3' (0.91m) deep trench, which allowed observation of the Roman ro...
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