GETTING ACROSS

In the midst of a seasonal sort-out the other day I came across some notes which suggested I had once attempted to count how many present-day places in the Eastern Daily Press circulation area had the word 'ford' embedded somewhere in their name, and had got to 17 before I stopped. The idea behind it was the vague notion that perhaps our catchment area had more 'ford' names than other counties. But I confess, I never resolved the matter.
Once upon a time fords mattered hugely, not only because they provided crossing points but also because they became gathering places and focal points. Some settlements actually grew up around them. Other fords were strategically (economically, socially, or militarily) important. So the best place to cross water became a most useful piece of knowledge.
They were also something of a financial necessity because they were cheaper to construct, if construction was required, than building bridges; and anyway, there was little or no suitable stone available. Not in Norfolk, anyway.
How many of these ancient fords - including those which appeared during the Roman period - were actually paved is unknown, for although logic suggests some of them might have been hardened in some way, actual evidence is also in short supply. Again, a lack of suitable stone, and the cost, may have been among the reasons. Where fords were not hardened, then some of them may have been 'staggered,' in the fashion of a Z, simply to widen the disturbed crossing area and thus lessen the impact. But that is also conjecture.
Why were fords so numerous in the Norfolk landscape? Well, in the Bronze and Iron Ages rivers were wider and larger than they are today and, of course, unbanked. Flood plains were common and progress was difficult, particularly when travelling in a north-south direction. This was because so many of our watercourses and rivers flow in a rough east-west direction. Hence, for example, Pickenham Wade, on the old pilgrim route from London to Walsingham. The name Lenwade also suggests many travellers got their feet wet. One thinks it may have been easier by sea.
In the 1970s, when a group of us first began to investigate a walking route along the Peddars Way, the two rivers at Knettishall, on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, and at Thorpe Farm - the Thet and the Little Ouse - presented barriers which took time to overcome. These were the sites of the old Blackwater and Droveway fords, both on the line of the Roman road, and without handy bridges to expedite our progress we had to resort to wading across.
In both cases the water came up to our thighs, but the beds were surprisingly soft and muddy and holding. However, any movement at all sent clouds of disturbed, muddy water slithering downstream to the extent that it made me wonder if the name Blackwater - a popular label for watercourses of various sorts in these parts - had some connection with disturbed water, and thus crossing places.
And the 17 on my list? Alderford, Barford, Billingford, Blyford, Brockford, Coxford, Cringleford, Glandford, Lackford, Langford, Rushford, Shereford, Stanford, Tatterford, Thetford, Thursford and Wayford. No doubt there were hundreds of others.