A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



all dates of the Roman occupation, except the latest, and other objects have 

 been found scattered over this side of the town. The cemeteries of the 

 Roman period w^hich lay chiefly to the north and west of what was presumably 

 the inhabited area are well filled, showing possibly that the settlement was 

 fairly populous. The burials so far as they have come to light are all after 

 cremation, a mode which was changed for inhumation in the latter part of 

 the Roman era in this country. It may perhaps be gathered from the 

 present evidence that Welwyn in the Roman period was a fairly prosperous 

 village. It appears that the remains of the two buildings discovered show 

 signs of fire. This together with the evidence of the coins and burials may 

 possibly indicate that the settlement did not survive till the end of the 

 Roman occupation. Perhaps it was destroyed Hke other settlements else- 

 where in the latter part of the 4th century when the country was infested 

 by marauding bands of Picts from the north. Some outlying settlements 

 seem to have existed within a few miles of the town, as for instance at the 

 Frythe, Mardleybury and elsewhere where burials have been found which 

 suggest the proximity of villas or other dwellings." 



Braughing 



The Roman village or posting station of Braughing lay at the crossing 

 probably of three important roads. The oldest of these may have been the 

 road from Verulamium to Camulodunum, which apparently took this route, 

 but no visible trace of it now remains for some way westward of Ermine 

 Street ; the other roads are Stane Street from Colchester to Baldock and 

 northwards and Ermine Street. Possibly there was also a road going 

 north-east to Great Chesterford. The large number of British coins which 

 have been found shows that there was a Late Celtic village here before the 

 Roman occupation. This station has been identified with Ad Fines, the first 

 station out of London in the seventeenth Itinerary of Richard of Cirencester. 

 This itinerary, however, was certainly in part forged by Bertram and 

 Richard, and the name Ad Fines is not to be found in the Antonine Itinerary 

 nor in the list of the anonymous Ravennas. 



The exact site of the settlement has not been discovered. The 

 crossing of the roads, at or near which it probably stood, was apparently at 

 the village of Puckeridge (see Roads). North of this in Wickham Field, 

 near the railway station, numerous remains of cinerary urns, coins and other 

 objects indicative probably of a Roman cemetery have been found. The 

 only evidence of a house was a tessellated pavement found in 1799 at 

 Larksfield within what is supposed to have been some earthworks. This 

 position, however, is too far distant from the road to have been a posting 

 station and the remains may have been those of a villa or country house 

 outside the station.'^ 



Roads 



The sources of information with regard to roads of the Romano-British 

 period are archaeological and written. The evidence of the former is 



^ For detaik of the finds see under Welwyn in the Topographical Index at the end of this article. 

 '* For details of the finds see under Braughing in the Topographical Index at the end of this article. 



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