Between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic age exists a gap of untold length, for the land had again to be re-peopled. Chipped, or rough-hewn celts, or hatchets, of the latter age have been picked up in fields near Abbot’s Langley, Bedmond, Kensworth, Wheathampstead, Markyate Street, and Weston. Polished celts are more rare, but specimens have been found at Panshanger, King’s Langley, Aldbury (near Stortford), Ashwell, and between Hitchin and Pirton. Perforated axe-heads and hammer-heads of stone, which may belong to the close of the Neolithic or commencement of the Bronze age, are still more uncommon, although a few such have been found, notably a hammer, near Sandridge, now preserved in the British Museum. Much the same remark applies to chipped arrow-heads—the fairy darts of a more poetical age—but a few beautiful specimens have been found near Tring, some so long ago as the year 1763 or thereabouts, and others at Ashwell and Hunsdon.

After a time man learnt the use of metal. The smelting of iron was at first beyond his power, and he employed the mixture of copper and tin which we term bronze. Of this age specimens of winged celts and palstaves (a narrow hatchet, with a tang or socket for a haft) have been found in various parts of the county, as well as socketed celts, daggers, swords, spear-heads, and the like. The most important discovery of this nature was made in 1876 during drainage operations at Cumberlow Green, near Baldock, when some forty bronze implements were found in a well-like hole. Gold ornaments, probably referable to the same epoch, have been found at Little Amwell and at Mardox, near Ware.

We now come to the early Iron Age, when man had succeeded in mastering this metal. Of this a very brief notice must suffice. Primitive coins, without inscription, of the type issued by Philip II of Macedon, and hence known as Philippi, were probably coined in the county in early British times; but after the Roman invasion a number of British coins were struck at Verulamium, among the most interesting of which are those of Tarciovanus, who reigned in that city from (probably) about 30 B.C. to about 5 A.D. A large number of his coins have been found at Verulam, as well as those of other British sovereigns. Tarciovanus, it may be added, was the father of Cunovelinus (Shakespeare’s Cymbeline), whose capital was Camulodunum, the modern Colchester.

Earthworks of great but unknown antiquity are by no means uncommon in Hertfordshire; one of the most important being Grimes-ditch, or Grimm’s Dyke, traces of which remain on Berkhampstead common, as well as on the opposite side of the Bulbourne valley, while a deep ditch runs in a bold sweep from near Great Berkhampstead through Northchurch and Wiggington to the north of Cholesbury camp, and thence into Buckinghamshire. Beech Bottom forms another great dyke lying between the site of Verulam and Sandridge, and is probably pre-Roman, and possibly connected with the encampment east of Wheathampstead known as the Moats or the Slad. The latter forms part of a great system of earthworks of which the opposite side is marked by the Devil’s Dyke at Marford. The great earthworks running outside of and parallel to parts of the Roman wall at Verulam are likewise older than the latter. Berkhampstead Castle may stand on the site of an earlier camp, as British and Roman coins have been found there; but the mound or keep, as at Bishop’s Stortford, Pirton, and Hertford Castles, is probably Saxon. On the other hand, the well-preserved camp near Redbourn, known as the Aubreys, Auberys, or Aubury, is certainly pre-Roman; and the same is probably the case with some of the numerous other earthworks dotted over the county, such as Arbury Banks, Ashwell. A few barrows or tombs of pre-Roman age have been opened and examined in various parts of the county, as at Therfield, Royston, and Easneye near Ware.

In evidence of the Roman occupation of Britain Hertfordshire is unusually rich, although limitations of space prevent anything like justice being done to this part of the subject. The county is, in the first place, traversed from south to north by three main Roman roads, the Watling Street, running through St Albans and Markyate, the Ermine Street, passing through Hertford, and the Icknield Way, traversing Hatfield and Baldock; as well as by the Roman Way, connecting the latter town with Hertford. Of these we shall speak presently. The crowning Roman glory of Hertfordshire is, however, the city of Verulamium, or Verulam, situated on the hill on the opposite side of the Ver to St Albans. Much of the foundations of this city lie buried within the area partially enclosed by the remains of the massive walls; and the ploughman within that ring is constantly turning up coins, fragments of pottery and glass, and other articles.

In one place are buried the apparently complete foundations of an amphitheatre, which was opened out many years ago, but again covered up after examination. Of the walls considerable portions, in a more or less damaged condition, still remain to bear eloquent testimony to the lasting character of Roman masonry; and much more would have persisted had they not been used as a convenient source of materials for the construction of St Albans’ Abbey and other ancient buildings. The basement of a Roman villa, in a fine state of preservation, was opened out at Sarratt Bottom in 1908, and plans of the structure prepared, after which the excavations were filled in. Other Roman remains are known to exist in the district.

Ravensburgh Castle, Hexton, is a well-known Roman camp, built on an earlier foundation; and remains of Roman camps exist at Braughing and several other places in the county, although in many cases the precise age of such ancient stations does not appear to be definitely ascertained.

Isolated Roman remains of various kinds occur in many parts of Hertfordshire. From the writer’s own neighbourhood the British Museum possesses a Roman altar found many years ago at Harpenden, as well as a Romano-British stone coffin, containing a glass vessel and pottery, found near Pickford Mill in the Lea valley, east of Harpenden, in 1827. The remains of another Roman interment, including fine specimens of amphorae, or large two-handled pottery vessels, were found about the year 1865 near Harpenden station on the Great Northern railway, and Barkway has yielded a fine bronze statuette of Mars.

Reference may here be made to the ancient millstones, for hand use, made of Hertfordshire pudding-stone, and known as querns, of which the writer gave two fine specimens from Harpenden to the British Museum. Both stones have one flat and one convex surface, but the convexity is much greater in the upper stone, which is almost conical, and is completely perforated at the centre. When in use, a stick, to serve as the axis of rotation, was inserted in this hole and received in a socket in the nether stone. The labour involved in making these pudding-stone querns must have been enormous.

With the Saxon period we reach the age of church building; but apart from such portions of certain churches as are of that age, Hertfordshire is exceedingly poor in evidence of the Saxon dominion. A glass Anglo-Saxon basin, together with a bronze Frankish pot of late sixth or early seventh century work, was, however, discovered at Wheathampstead in 1886. Anglo-Saxon relics are believed also to have been unearthed at Redbourn at a very early period, when they were attributed to St Amphibalus; and a Saxon burial-place appears to have been found near Sandridge in modern times, although unfortunately ploughed over. Apart from the above, there are only a few isolated “finds,” such as of the coins known as minimi, and of a gold ornament discovered at Park Street in 1744.