CELTIC AND ROMANO-BRITISH HERTFORDSHIRE 



HiNxwoRTH. — Some Roman burials were dug up in a gravel-pit between Caldecote and Hinxworth 

 in 1723-4. They consisted of large urns full of burnt bones, and near them large and 

 small urns, Samian paterae, one or more stamped ampullae, glass lachrymatories, handle 

 and neck of simpulum and green glass beads, bronze fibulae, ' two long glass beads,' a ' stone 

 sword handle.' Near them skeletons had been buried i ft. beneath the surface with 

 head to the south-east [Stukeley, Itin. Curios. (1724), 74, hence Salmon, Hist, of Herts. (1728), 

 339 ; Lewis, Topog. Did. (1831), s.v. Hinxworth. Some shown to Soc. Antiq. ; see MS. Minutes, 

 8 May 1723 j 10 March 1724-5, hence Camden's Brit. (ed. Gough 1789), i, 342 ; Brayley and 

 Britton, Beauties of Engl, and Wales (1808), vii, 176 ; Clutterbuck, Hist, of Herts. (1815-27), 

 iii> 523]- Cussans, Hist, of Herts. Odsey Hund. 23 probably refers to the same find when he 

 mentions ' coins found in Caldecote Field adjoining Hinxworth parish.' See also Ashwell. 

 HiTCHiN. — A variety of finds have been made at Hitchin and in the immediate neighbourhood, 

 (i) A Roman kiln is said to have been discovered beneath accumulated rubbish in an old 

 brickfield on Hitchin Hill, near Stevenage Road, about a quarter of a mile south of the town 

 [Cussans, Hist, of Herts. Hitchin Hund. 5, 6]. (2) Several skeletons, one nearly 7 ft. long 

 and another with traces of an iron weapon with it, and west of them a great number of cinerary 

 urns, lying in a curved hne east and west, and around them many pieces of Samian ware, a 

 bronze armlet and ornaments, knives, &c., a silver denarius of Septimius Severus (a.d. 193-21 i), 

 small base metal coin of Julia Domna (a.d. 193-21 i), and small brass of Allectus (a.d. 293) 

 and Constantine H (a.d. 337-40), were dug up 2 ft. below the surface in the kitchen garden of 

 Foxholes, Tilehouse Street, a mile west of Hitchin [Cussans, Hist, of Herts. Addenda to Hitchin 

 Hund. 317; Seebohm, English Village Community (1884), 430; 'Ransom, Herts. Nat. Hist. 

 Soc. Trans. (1886), iv, 47 ; Journ. Arch. Inst, xxxix, 426, probably refers to this find]. 

 (3) Many Roman urns containing burnt bones and several Samian paterae, coins of Septimius 

 Severus (a.d. 193-21 1), Galhenus (a.d. 253-68), Tetricus (a.d. 268-73), Diocletian (a.d. 284- 

 305), Maximian (a.d. 286-308), Carausius (a.d. 286-93), Allectus (a.d. 293) and Constantine 

 (a.d. 306-37), were found in drainage works at the sewage farm, Bury Mead, a mile north of 

 Hitchin, shortly before 1881 [Cussans and Ransom as above]. (4) Two burial urns came from 

 Taylor's Hill [Cussans, op. cit. Hitchin Hund. 5, 6]. (5) Small coins of the Lower Empire 

 near Wellhead, Charlton, and many Roman coins and potsherds have been found in the 

 neighbourhood of Hitchin. In the Hertford Museum is a biscuit-coloured urn, 5 in. high, 

 from here [Inform, from Mr. BuUen and the same references]. Cussans [op. cit. Hitchin 

 Hund. (1874), 33] also mentions a carved white marble stone, part of a frieze representing a 

 triumphal procession, found built into the walls of the Red Lion Inn when it was pulled 

 down for the site of the Corn Exchange in 1852. It was thought to have come from a 

 dweUing-house in the neighbourhood— perhaps Wymondley— but it might just as easily 

 have been brought from abroad at some time. The house at Wymondley Hes only i| miles 

 east and the cemetery 2 miles south-east. For Wilbury Hill, see Norton and the find of 

 Late Celtic urns near there, probably in Walsworth parish [F.C.H. Herts, i, 236], and the 

 cemeteries at Danesfield and Pegsdown, see Pirton. Cf. also Willian and Ickleford. 

 HoDDESDON.— Some Upchurch urns were dug up in a gravel-pit in Paul's Lane, about ij miles 

 east of Ermine Street, in the early part of 1862. One of them— an olla— was 5 in. high, of grey 

 earth and scored with two bands of ornament in trelhs-work and diagonal dots, and aiiother 

 urn-shaped vessel with wide mouth and bulging side. More were discovered in 1873 in the 

 centre of a gently rising mound a quarter of a mile from the above, and in 1874, at 2 ft. from 

 the surface, a trench 8 ft. long, cut east and west and containing a number of cinerary urns, 

 was opened in laying out a new road (now called Roman Road) from Barford Street to the 

 Ware VaUey, just above Woollens Brook. With them was an iron spear-head about 9 in. 

 long, and near by many animal bones and two Roman coins \Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xvm, 

 268, 369; Cussans, Hist, of Herts. Hertford Hund. (1876), 173 ; the Times, 18 August 1874; 

 Herts. Mercury, 5 April 1902]. Most of these objects are preserved in the room of the 

 Hoddesdon Mutual Improvement Society. A plain fibula was found in January 1901 in some 

 excavations made in Roman Street, and in July 1899 ' a stone-paved trackway 4 ft. below 

 the surface of Ware Road, which was considered Roman partly because three odd horse- 

 shoes thought to be Roman were found near it. In January 1901 also an ' inverted tile, said 

 to have been stamped ' le.ix,' was turned up in Hoddesdon, the precise site not being given 

 [East Herts. Arch. Soc. Trans, i (3), 363, (2), 187], but on further examination it was dis- 

 covered that the tile was modern and bore the stamp of a local tilemaker. A cinerary urn 

 9 in. high and 12 in. in diameter, decorated with six horizontal hues in two groups, and 

 containing calcined bones, was found with pieces of two other vessels in a sand-pit in West 

 Hill Field, near the Hertford Road and west of Hoddesdon [ibid. 1 (2), 184J. i^astiy 

 a bronze coin of Pius (Cos. iii) [a.d. 138-61] with reverse 'Britanma was discovered 



