ART and archaeology is combining to celebrate a Neolithic walkway used for thousands of years in the North Wessex Downs Area of Natural Beauty.

The Icknield Way is a chalk ridgeway that runs from Lincoln and Norfolk down to the Dorset Coast and goes through the North Wessex Downs area.

A celebration of the route, used by people for over 4,000 years ago as they farm, travel and live along its length, is being held in Basildon Park in Berkshire after artists flocked to the North Wessex Downs to be inspired by evidence of its use in prehistoric times.

The project is also giving schools from deprived areas the chance to experience music, performance and art in the outdoors to encourage families to discover more about the history of the landscape where they live.

Director Henry Oliver said: “The chalk way was an important corridor and chalk spine because the chalk is easy to walk on and the water runs off it easily, so once the trees were cut down it was pretty open, meaning that people were not likely to get ambushed or into real trouble. Around 4000 BC, when people started farming, it was also great for animals to graze and grow food.

“We have found evidence of people coming from as far as Italy to use the walkway so it was a really important route in the past. What is great about this project is that we are stepping back from the archaeological point of view and looking at the important route through the lens of art.

“We have contacted schoolsto reach the people who might not think that this is their thing or even know that it exists.

“We are also putting on coaches for friends and families to come to the celebration, because it is often those people who haven’t had access to these projects that benefits the most from getting outside and experiencing something like Basildon Park or the Icknield Way.”

There are also plans to restore a area of wooded pasture in Basildon Park. Wooded pastures, like Savernake Forest near Marlborough, are areas of land which were semi wooded before more trees were planted there from the 18th century, which included large open spaces for habitats where animals thrived. Evidence of animals, including some beetles that live in dead wood, prove that the pastures have been there for thousands of years without the habitat being effected.

The free installation will take place from July 18-21 in Basildon Park, which is between Goring-on-Thames and Streatley.

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