An iceway is a linear channel eroded through bedrock by the passage of glacial ice. The term was coined by geographer

Geographer

A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...

 Ronald Kay Gresswell in a paper in 1964 in relation to the origins of the Dee

Dee Estuary

The Dee Estuary is a large estuary by means of which the River Dee flows into Liverpool Bay. The estuary starts near Shotton after a five miles 'canalised' section and the river soon swells to be several miles wide forming the boundary between the Wirral Peninsula in north-west England and...

 and Mersey estuaries on the boundary of northwest England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and northeast Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. Gresswell identified several such sub-parallel features running in a northwest to southeast direction from Liverpool Bay

Liverpool Bay

Liverpool Bay is a bay of the Irish Sea between northeast Wales, Cheshire, Lancashire and Merseyside to the east of the Irish Sea. The bay is a classic example of a region of freshwater influence...

 through Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

 into Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

. The Dee estuary and its landward continuation south of Chester

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

 as far as Farndon

Farndon

Farndon is the name of more than one place:*Farndon, Cheshire, England*Farndon, Nottinghamshire, England*fictional village in Nevil Shute's novel No Highway*In Northamptonshire:**East Farndon**West Farndon...

along with the Mersey estuary are the two largest iceways dsicerned in this region. Further iceways were identified underlying the lower Gowy

River Gowy

The River Gowy is a river in Cheshire, England and a tributary of the River Mersey.It rises in western Cheshire in the hills near Peckforton Castle, very close to the source of the River Weaver. While the Weaver flows south initially, the Gowy flows north and for several miles provides the valley...

 valley and the Alt-Ditton depression east of Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

. Each of these have also been referred to as tunnel valleys

Tunnel valley

A tunnel valley is a large, long, U-shaped valley originally cut under the glacial ice near the margin of continental ice sheets such as that now covering Antarctica and formerly covering portions of all continents during past glacial ages....

.