A Brief History of Kimpton By John Pollington
The present Parish of Kimpton extends
from Peters Green in the north, to the Cross Keys Public House, Gustard
Wood in the south, and from the Blue Cross Animal Rehoming Centre on
Kimpton Bottom in the west to Kimpton Mill in the east. It covers an area of
approx. 3700 acres, almost entirely farming land; only about 170 acres of
woodland remain. Roman Times ·
ST. ALBANS - ICKLEFORD near HITCHIN, via edge of
Gustard Wood Common - Kimpton Hall Farm - Kimpton Memorial Hall - Cuckolds
Cross. First Thousand Years
2000 years ago the entire area would have been covered with forest since
the heavy clay soil was ideal for tree growth. Early men with their
primitive flint axes found tree-felling slow and laborious; so they tended
to keep to the more open tracts of country. It is therefore not surprising
that no trace of early man has yet been found in the Parish.
In these times an active river would have flowed down the Kimpton Valley,
entering the River Mimram near the present Kimpton Mill.
The
Romans occupied this country for nearly 400 years from 43 A.D. onwards.
They brought with them a very advanced culture. One of their largest
settlements was at Verulamium (now St. Albans) and remains of villas have
also been excavated at Welwyn and Hitchin.
We have no evidence of Roman dwellings in the Parish, although in 1815
workmen widening a road in Priors Wood found a dark coloured urn containing
a hoard of 230 silver republican and imperial coins. The oldest of these
was minted in 2 B.C. and the most recent 104 A.D.
A Roman chariot bell is also supposed to have been found at Blackmore End.
This may have been a relic from one of the bloody encounters between
Boudicca (Boadicea) Queen of the Iceni tribes of East Anglia and the Roman
Governor Suetonius.
The Romans are renowned for their roads, which connected the military
centres of occupation. They were straight and well drained, with a surface
of compacted gravel or other local material, up to 50 feet wide on major
routes. Two of these roads by-passed Kimpton:
WATLING STREET, London to Chester, running through St. Albans and
Dunstable. .
ERMINE STREET London to Lincoln, running through Hertford and Royston.
In the late 20th century archaeologists discovered a network of
minor Roman roads, built for civil rather than military purposes. These
roads often followed pre-Roman tracks, modified by the Roman engineers.
Three such routes passed through Kimpton:-
COLEMAN GREEN (Near SANDRIDGE) - BALDOCK, via rear of Ayot St. Lawrence
Church - spine of hill down to Kimpton Mill (called Laver Street)
AYOTBURY (Near WELWYN) - FRIARS WASH, via the high ground to the north of
the Lea Valley, passing behind Cross Keys Public House - then changing
direction slightly to follow the now disused road which ran up to 1874 from
Blackmore End to Raisins Farm.
Traces of these roads are difficult to see to the inexperienced eye. Over
many centuries remains of the original surface have been covered by a layer
of topsoil, and often all traces have been obliterated by ploughing or
building. Scorch marks sometimes indicate the route across fields,
especially if they can be viewed from the air. In the dry summer of
1959 clear scorch marks appeared in front of Heron's Farm at the far corner
of Gustard Wood Common. Local archaeologists excavated a trench to section
the road, which proved to be 18 feet wide. Regrettably a modern barn now
stands on the site.
Over the years the Roman soldiers had gradually been called away from
Britain to fight on other fronts and by 410 A.D. the British were left to
defend themselves as best they could from the warlike Scots from Ireland,
and the Picts from Scotland.
Once the Romans had left there was no central organisation to finance or
carry out repairs to the roads, which were anyway an easy means of access
to invaders. So the roads fell into disrepair, and were quickly overgrown
forming low ridges and hedgerows which were often used as boundary markers
in later times. Our own Parish boundary partly follows two of these roads.
For the next 500 years our island was continuously under attack from Scots,
Picts, Vikings, Danes, Angles, and the Saxons from northern Germany.
Following in the wake of the Saxon invaders however came the Saxon
immigrants who were mainly farmers. They began to clear the land and
cultivate it, slowly working their way up the river valleys. So the first
settlers in Kimpton probably appeared during this period, possibly in the
vicinity of Kimpton Mill. They founded self-contained communities, building
their huts in an elevated position overlooking their fields.
The Cross
Keys on Gustard Wood Common,
c1900, on
the border between Kimpton and
Wheathampstead
parishes. Still trading today,
Now hidden
by trees.
Hall Lane, leading up from Kimpton to Hall
Farm. Part of an ancent track.
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