The Iron Age lasted from around 600 BC until the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD and the subsequent gradual colonization of England and Wales.  It was preceded by the Bronze Age. At this time casting and use of iron implements became widespread and at least by the latter part of the Iron Age the tribes referred to by Roman historians had settled territories. The tribe associated with what is now Bedfordshire were the Catuvellauni, one of the most powerful tribes, it is believed, in the southern part if Britain in the century or so before the Roman Conquest

Iron Age material and sites been found in at a number of locations in Bedford, as described by the Heritage Gateway web site. These include the following:

• Human remains dating to the Iron Age or Romano-British period as well as pottery sherds were found in pits in 1867.
• An Iron Age pedestal urn was found in 1930.
• An Iron Age hut was discovered in 1947 on allotments to the east of the town as later noted by Angela Simco in Bedfordshire Archaeological Journal Volume VIII page 16 - the site was later destroyed and pottery associated with it lost.
• Earthworks have been noted at BedfordCemetery at the top of Foster Hill Road which may be Iron Age or Medieval in date.