IVINGHOE BEACON

At 233m above sea level Ivinghoe Beacon was once part of an old signalling network, used to send messages over long distances. It is part of the Chiltern Hills and is the start of the Icknield Way to the east and Britain’s oldest road, The Ridgeway, to the west. This is also the site of an iron-age hill fort. Signs at the Ivinghoe Beacon site suggest three potential walks of varying lengths. These range from around 45 minutes to the Beacon and back to a much longer 17-mile circular affair, which we have managed to avoid so far.

The tops of the hills make for good views over the surrounding countryside, as well as a perfect vantage point for RC glider enthusiasts to use slope soaring: gaining lift from winds that meet the sides of the hills causing an updraft.

Obviously, Ivinghoe Beacon is popular with walkers, dog walkers, picnickers and model flying enthusiasts – not the powered type, though, only gliders

It is probable that beacons and lookouts played a key role in the networks of local and regional communications of Anglo-Saxon England during the Viking Age (ninth to eleventh centuries). Place names with elements such as the Old English word and *tōt(e), denoting watchmen or lookout places, are widespread throughout southern England but can be identified across the country.

FACILITIES

• Long and Short trials
• Free car park