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The Romans at Cheshunt
Created 21 June, 2008
The invasion of Julius Caesar in 55 B.C. had little effect locally and it was not until the Claudion invasion nearly a hundred years later that the Roman began to subjugate Britain. Cheshunt was within the territory of the Catuvellauni, ruled by Cassivellaunus, whose capital was Verulam, near the modern town of St. Albans. The Catuvellauni were a powerful Belgic tribe bitterly opposed the Roman invasion. Having a form of agriculture, minting their own money, and carrying out a lively trade with their neighbours at home and on the continent, these people were not wholly uncivilised. Cassivellaunus led the neighbouring tribes against the Roman legions but, lacking the military skill of the invaders, they were finally beaten.
Of prime importance to the Romans were their roads, which enabled them to movetroops rapidly from place to place. Ermine Street was built to run from Londinium to Eburacun (York), later extending to Hadrian's Wall. The course of this famous highway can easily be traced on modern maps. It entered our district at Bulls Cross, passing through Theobalds Park, along Bury Green Road to Dark Lane; past the site of Cheshunt Great House to Stockwell Lane and through Cheshunt Park, where the line is lost through medieval enclosures; re-appearing a little east of the bottom of Holy Cross Hill. From Elbow Lane, west of Hoddesdon, a fine stretch continues to Hertford Heath.
In addition to this main artery, two east-west roads appear to have been in use in Roman times; both entered our district at Fishers Green where the Lea was fordable. The first too a north-westerly route to Flamstead End, along part of Longfield Lane, along part of Hammond Street Road and down Darnicle Hill. Here a diversion leaves the modern road to reappear at Newgate Street and so on through Hatfield Park and eventually to Dunstable. The second road ran due west from Fishers Green to join Goffs Lane near the playing fields and following roughly the line of this road down Cuffly Hill. At Cuffley the road bends north-west to the Ridgeway and thence to Verulamium, the rebuilt Roman town.
Roman occupation in Cheshunt has been a matter of speculation for centuries. The ancient place-name of Cestrehunt suggests that here was a Roman camp, and most earlier authorities have placed this at Kilsmore Fields, now covered by the Enfield Borough housing estate on the north side of Church Lane. When this estate was built no trace of any occupation earlier than medieval was found.
In 1954, when the electricity pylons were erected in Cheshunt Park, small pieces of pottery were found. Subsequent searching over a wide area of adjacent ploughed fields revealed innumerable sherds of Roman pottery, tile and brick. It is therefore certain that the Roman camp or settlement was situated in Cheshunt Park and, from datable sherds, it can be deduced that the site was occupied for two or three hundred years. Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, two families of amateur archaeologists began excavating some Roman remains in a small section of the park. As well as uncovering a wide range of Roman tiles, pottery and other artefacts, they found the remains of various buildings, which neither they nor archaeological experts at the time could identify with any degree of certainty. In the summer of 2001, Channel 4s Time Team carried out a dig on the same section of the site. Click here for the full story.
There have been several finds of Roman origin recorded in the district during the past two hundred years, including coin hoards and pottery. These have been dispersed to various museums and most of the coins have been stolen. Some fine examples of pottery and a few of the coins remain at the Verulamium Museum and a mortarium made by Marinus, a potter whose kiln is believed to have been at Northaw, is preserved in Cheshunt Public Library. The Romans left Britain towards the end of the fifth century, leaving a gap of nearly five hundred years in our local history.