Early History of Cockayne Hatley

No artefacts have been found in Cockayne Hatley which would suggest neolithic, bronze age, iron age or Roman habitation. However, there are landscape features which suggest settlement at an early date.  

On the edge of Potton Wood near the boundary between the parishes of Potton and Cockayne Hatley to the west of Home Farm is an earthwork, much of which has been levelled, but traces of banks have been observed towards the northern end. Cropmarks suggest that the feature originally ran around the former Walk Wood to the south west, and was connected with other landscape features in Cockayne Hatley parish, with a branch curving towards Cockayne Hatley Church. Aerial photography in 2015 identified two possible Iron Age enclosures at this location [Heritage Environment Record 3127]. Nearby, to the south of Wood Farm and to the east of Potton Wood, cropmarks show a short length of double ditches and the faint outline of a Bronze Age ring ditch [Heritage Environment Record 16939]. 

No Roman finds are known to have been made in the parish, although it is conjectured that the line of a Roman road from Bedford to Wimpole passed through Cockayne Hatley [Heritage Environment Record 738].