Romano-British Caddington
The Bedfordshire Historic Environment Record [HER] contains information on the county’s historic buildings and landscapes and summaries of each entry can now be found online as part of the Heritage Gateway website. Caddington has produced a fair amount of Romano-British material.
The Romans invaded Britain in 43AD during the reign of the Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD). It took a number of years to subdue what is today England and Wales. The Romans eventually left Britain, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 410 AD (the Chronicle is made up of a number of different versions one of which says, for 410, "In this year the Goths stormed Rome and the Romans never afterwards reigned in Britain").
A number of finds of Neolithic or Bronze Age flints were also associated with Romano-British material. Inions Farm produced a medium quantity of Romano-British pottery [HER 15857] as did an area south of the farm [HER 16060] though this was in smaller numbers and also included a quern for grinding corn and a medium quantity of tile clearly suggesting one or more buildings of some kind.
At Brick Kiln Farm on Chaul End Road field walking produced a small quantity of pottery and a medium quantity of tile [HER 16068]. North of the village field walking recovered a small quantity of pottery and a medium quantity of tile [HER 16070].
There are a number of references to finds of Roman material in Caddington in the late 19th century [HER 86]. In 1895 the celebrated Dunstable antiquarian and amateur archaeologist Worthington G. Smith found a substantial quantity of prehistoric flint remains amongst which were Roman pottery, two bronze coins and fragments of a quern. Elsewhere, pottery and a bronze coin were found near the church and glass, pottery and another bronze coin from a refuse pit nearby.
The area of Millfield Farm was said to have produced a large quantity of Romano-British pottery [HER 87] in brickfields. Finally, Roman pottery, tile and a quern were discovered in a ditch and pit south of Manor Farm [HER 17751] when excavating a service trench.