Romano-British Old Warden

The Bedfordshire Historic Environment Record [HER] details all Romano-British finds and sites in the country. It is now available on-line as part of the Heritage Gateway website. Old Warden has a large number of prehistoric, or potentially prehistoric, sites but many less Roman sites.

A Roman coin of Constantine the Great (306-337) dating to 318-319 was found by a metal detectorist in front of Shuttleworth Agricultural College [HER 15996]. It was found with a 13th century seal and a 16th century gold ring. A burial at Warden Abbey [HER 14154] was described as "post Bronze Age but pre-Christian" indicating a Romano-British or Iron Age date.

The only other Romano-British sites in Old Warden are possibly Roman roads. The Viatores are a group dedicated to discovering parts of the Roman road network in the modern landscape. They have identified a road [HER 10480] as running from Ickleford [Hertfordshire] to Bedford and beyond to the present county boundary at Harrold. It was presumed to run along the high ground at Deadman's Cross just cutting across the boundary into Old Warden.

The Viatores have identified another Roman road as connecting two other roads between Biggleswade and Old Warden [HER 706] and has been traced using parish boundaries and surviving earthworks. For part of its length this road was conjectured to follow Hill Lane, which forms the parish boundary between Old Warden and Southill. Another Roman road was identified as running from Shefford to Cardington and perhaps on to Bedford [HER 717] thus following the same general orientation as HER 10480, though separate from it.