An intrepid team of INS researchers visited sites on the Icknield Way in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire to test the practicalities of medieval communications. Place-names such as Totternhoe (OE *tōt-ærn-hōh 'lookout-house hill-spur') and Warden Hill (OE weard-dūn 'watch hill') seem to indicate the presence of observation points in earlier times. The team lit two different kinds of flares to find out how difficult it was to send signals from one lookout point to another, with some exciting results!
A report on the field trip is now available on the Early Medieval Atlas website.
View from Totternhoe, looking south-west towards the Chilterns. © INS, 2016.
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