Woodside Before 1086

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. The Historic Environment Record has two entries noting early human activity in Woodside.

Field walking in the 1990s revealed a scatter of flint tools, with some Romano-British pottery and tile, between Woodside Road and the M1 [HER 16067]. The flints dated from the Neolithic or Bronze Age. It is important to remember that flint tools continued to be used long after the Stone Ages because they were in plentiful supply and easier to make than bronze or later iron tools.

Running about 300 yards north-west from Woodside Farm lies a stretch of agger – part of the Romano-British road system [HER 10462]. It is typically convex with a higher central spine sloping slightly down on each carriageway and has a ditch along each side. It may be part of a Roman road from Dunstable to Cheshunt [Hertfordshire].