THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD 



made to the discoveries near its source in Bedfordshire, 1 but at Har- 

 penden 2 and Wheathampstead, nine or ten miles down the stream, Mr. 

 Worthington Smith has found ochreous flakes of Palaeolithic character. 

 At No Man's Land Common, 3 near the latter place, more conclusive 

 specimens in the shape of ovate implements have been found. Two of 

 these are in the County Museum at St. Albans. The gravels at this spot 

 were in all probability deposited by the river Lea before it took its 

 present course by Wheathampstead. 



Near Ayot St. Peter* and Welwyn, Mr. Worthington Smith has 

 found flakes only ; but some discoveries at Welwyn will subsequently be 

 mentioned. No further discoveries are recorded within the valley of the 

 Lea until we arrive near Hertford. General Pitt Rivers has a very fine 

 Palaeolithic implement, stated to have been found near Bayford, 8 on the 

 southern side of the river. At Hertford, Bengeo, Ware and Amwell 

 implements of pointed form have been found by Mr. Worthington 

 Smith. 8 He has also obtained them from the gravels at Flamstead End, 

 Cheshunt. 7 A few have also been found at Hoddesdon. His numerous 

 and important discoveries lower down the valley of the Lea, in the 

 counties of Middlesex and Essex, are well known, and need not here be 

 dilated upon. 



Among the affluents of the Lea, the Beane may first be mentioned. 

 Its present source is near Stevenage. To the north of the town, at 

 Fisher's Green, 8 Palaeolithic implements have been found in brick-earth. 

 Mr. W. Ransom, F.S.A., has specimens also from Ippolitts to the north- 

 west. Others have been found in a brickfield south of Stevenage. 9 In 

 gravels exposed in a cutting of the Great Northern Railway near Kneb- 

 worth 10 and in a clay pipe exposed farther south, near Welwyn tunnel, 

 some well-formed pointed and ovate implements have been found, which 

 were brought to my knowledge by the late Mr. Frank Latchmore. 

 The discoveries at Hitchin will be subsequently mentioned. 



Mr. R. W. Brabant has a well-formed ovate implement said to 

 have been found in the valley of the Rib near Buntingford. 



In the valley of the Stort, an important affluent of the Lea, which 

 joins it near 11 Hoddesdon, a few discoveries of Palaeolithic implements 

 have been made. At Stocking Pelham 12 Mr. W. H. Penning, F.G.S., 



1 Evans, Ancient Stone Implements, and ed. p. 598 ; Man the Prim. Savage, p. 176. 



* Man the Prim. Savage, pp. 90, 1 80 ; Ancient Stone Implements, and ed. p. 60 1. 



3 Ancient Stone Implements, and ed. p. 601 ; Man the Prim. Savage, p. 180 ; Trans. 

 Herts Nat. Hist. Sac., vol. viii. p. 183, pi. xi. 4, xiii. 7. 



* Man the Prim. Savage, p. 184. B Archteol., vol. liii. p. 254. 



6 Man the Prim. Savage, p. 184 ; Journ. Anthrop. Inst., 1879, viii. p. 278 ; Nature, 

 vol. xxiii. p. 604 ; Ancient Stone Implements, and ed. p. 602. 



7 Man the Prim. Savage, p. 185. 



8 Ancient Stone Implements, and ed. p. 602 ; Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Sac., viii. pi. xi. 3, 

 i. p. Ixi. 



9 Ancient Stone Implements, and ed. p. 602 ; Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Sac., viii. pi. xi. 5. 



10 Ancient Stone Implements, and ed. p. 602. 



11 Op. cit. p. 602 ; Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Soc., viii. p. 184. 

 18 Ancient Stone Implements, p. 6oa. 



22 7 



