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Sandridge
Village History Prehistory
Sandridge The area of land stretching from the river Lea at Wheathampstead for about five miles to Barnyards Heath (St. Albans) with an average width of about one mile has seen occupation by man for hundreds of centuries. This large tract abounds with natural flint and a 'field walk' at Harford close to Wheathampstead gleaned about 150 retouched flints lying on the surface which are thought to have been worked c.4000-1000 BC. Flint working tools have been found in the area dating from as early as c.400,000-100,000 BC. Finds of the later period c.10,000-4000 BC have also been found. For instance, a 'tranchet' axe of this era can be viewed at Verulamium Museum and a perforated hammer made from a compact granular quartz rock pebble now reposes in the British Museum, both found at Sandridge. In 1884 Sir John Evans displayed "A good white ovate palæolithic implement", one of two found on Nomansland Common. In December 1896 M.W.G. Smith who had been shown the "implement" visited the gravel pits there and found a somewhat similar implement in situ; this latter is engraved in his "Man, the Primæval Savage." At the same time Mr. Smith found two neolithic cells on the Common. Who were the people who inhabited the northern Home Counties more than a thousand years before Christ? Pre-historians tell us that they were the Celtic tribes from northwest Germany and the Low Countries who had crossed the Channel and North Sea to fight and amalgamate with the native Iberians, who, in their turn, had migrated centuries earlier from many areas of Europe. By c.350 BC southeast England was perhaps the most civilized area of the whole of Britain and had settled down to a mixed life of farming, cattle and horse raising, mining and mutual trading with Romanized Europe. In 150 BC there was gold and silver Gaul/Belgæ coinage circulating in the territory and about fifty years later the first coins from British mints appeared. Life was still basically a tribal one making peaceful progress but with an awareness of one's neighbour's activities. The Catuvellauni people were predominant north of the river Thames in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire with extensions to the east and south comprising settlements, perhaps fortifications (but certainly not townships as we would imagine them to be) were loosely federated. One of these settlements was at Wheathampstead (the Celtic name is unknown) where in 54 BC it is legend that the Roman general Julius Cæsar defeated King Cassivellaunus of the Catuvellauni in battle. After this, in the reign of King Tasciovanus (the son of Cassivellaunus) the 'capital' was moved in c.15 BC to Pré Wood at St. Albans which could already have been a small settlement on the Ver. It was named Vermalion by King Tasciovanus. Why was the settlement moved from one river site to another? It may have been that after the defeat by Cæsar in 54 BC it was decided to build stronger entrenchments and ditches on more defensive ground at the river Ver some five miles or so distant in case of a further attack by the Romans. In the event, the Legions did not reappear and so the Catuvellauni, described by Cæsar as an aggressive people, attacked the Trinovante tribe in Essex territory and beat them. King Cunobelinus of the Catuvellauni then transferred his royal authority, real and apparent, to Colchester, the capital of the defeated tribe. Consequently Vermalion fell into disuse, or at least much depleted in population, and lost any importance it may have had. Existing physical evidence of Belgic, perhaps pre-Belgic, earthworks in the area are Beech Bottom Dyke (modern Beech Road, St. Albans) and Devil's Dyke or Ditch (modern Dyke Lane, Wheathampstead) with its conjoint Slad and Moat (which by some are considered natural features and not man-made). Beech Bottom Dyke is today roughly half-a-mile long, one end by the Ancient Briton PH and the other in St. Albans Road, Sandridge, but there is supposition that it was much longer in prehistoric times. There is no known settlement connected with it or near it except for Vermalion (Pré Wood) about two miles to the east to which the Dyke may have been joined. Its real purpose is still unexplained and remains a mystery. Was it a fortification, a territorial boundary or perhaps it has some religious significance? Three miles or so northeast of Beech Bottom Dyke is Devil's Dyke and its two satellites, the Slad and the Moat. The Dyke is constructed in the same way as that of Beech Bottom but only 500-600 yards of it are now existing. The Slad (deriving from the Anglo-Saxon word 'slæd' - a little valley) is about 400-500 yards away almost parallel with the Dyke. Some of the water from about 200 acres of the higher surrounding ground drains in to the Slad/Moat, but most comes from the water table. In really wet weather or after heavy snow it fills to a depth of four feet or so and in very dry weather the bottom of the vast trench has only to be dug for a short depth before wet soil is encountered. After heavy downpours a semi-circle of water lying on the ground can be seen connecting the features of the Slad-Moat to Devil's Dyke. This makes the interesting theory that the Dyke/Slad/Moat could have been joined in prehistory to form a U-shape with the mouth facing the river Lea. Natural drainage, which the ancients must have observed and acted upon, would have helped to completely fill the mammoth ditch to form a water barrier for a piece of enclosed land of about 90-100 acres which was the township, for want of a better word, of the Catuvellauni tribe. It was called an oppidum by the Romans. Furthermore, a look at the contour map reveals that the Slad is directly in line with a ravine which leads straight to the river. This geological feature also occurs with the Dyke on the other side if its projected line is followed. It is believed that the Lea at this period of history was much more marshy that it is today and this also could have formed part of any defences of the enclosure. A summary of prehistoric Sandridge (which for centuries included part of Wheathampstead) is that there was no permanent settlement away from the two rivers Ver and Lea. This is understandable as early man had need of water and never settled very far from it. But between the two river habitations there must have been contacts and trackways formed. One such logical route would be a track along roughly the present Dyke Lane to Nomansland Common. Here, after traversing what may have been a natural clearing used for grazing cattle, sheep and horses of the Wheathampstead settlers, the walker would have taken a path along the top of a ridge which stretches out roughly northwest from Pré Wood. Along this path the height would be about 100' higher than the ground below. Another trackway may have used Coleman Green through which many years later the Romans made a road, perhaps adopting a previous or existing walkway of the Celts. 'Pudding'
stones are found mostly in Hertfordshire, less commonly in neighbouring
counties. They have been given this name because of the resemblance
to a Victorian plum pudding. They are boulders made of a stones and
pebbles conglomerate cemented together by silica about 50,000,000 years
ago and can be anything in size from a few inches to several feet in
diameter. They were also known as a 'hag', 'witch' or 'angel' stone
as well as a 'growing' or 'breeding' stone. A common appellation is
'mothering' stone. The last three names stem from a belief by country
folk that the longer the boulders remain in the ground the larger they
grow and multiply. But such beliefs are now disappearing from village
lore. An attempt was made in the early 1980s to locate all known 'pudding'
stones in Hertfordshire to see if there was a pattern in the sites,
but a report was never published. Some 'puddings' may have been used on leylines as markers. A leyline is an alignment of certain physical landmarks used by the ancients. Tumuli, barrows, mounds, water and standing stones, as well as the Christianized sites of pagan worship, are some of the eleven features reckoned by the science of geomancy to constitute leylines. The function of them is not known - the existence of leylines is even denied in some archæological circles - but they are thought to be connected with astro-archæology and cosmology, ritual worship and/or other unknown uses. One intriguing theory is that within the width of a leyline are magnetic properties which were known to the prehistorics and used to a purpose now lost to the modern world. It may have been a belief of early man that if he kept to walkways guarded by certain natural features he would be protected from lightning, the perils lurking in darkness and the power of evil gods. When the cottages next to the old Post Office (60 High Street) in Sandridge were demolished a 'pudding' stone of a fair size was disclosed. Years later an old gentleman asked to examine the find and using his dowsing sticks over the boulder proclaimed that there was still a little magnetism left in it. It is a fact that this type of stone does contain an amount of iron. The dowser also stated that there were two, possible three, streams running under the property. This is borne out by the fact that there are four known wells on the property and when a hole was dug for the radio tower on the same site, water in considerable quantity was found at a depth of three to four feet - a very high water table. An amateur leyline enthusiast has theorized that leylines may cross obliquely at a point on Nomansland Common. He occupied the old nurseries for several years during which time his family was plagued with health problems. There were chest troubles, depression, croup and other ailments. He then discovered that the previous occupants had also suffered from attacks of ill health. After a session of dowsing on the property by two separate persons, a reaction was discovered indicating that the site was probably influenced by natural causes such as underground rivers or streams, pockets of water, soil and other features. Not very far away from the nurseries is the original site of the boundary 'pudding' stone mentioned earlier as well as that part of the Common which in the past has been used for gravel diggings. Also nearby is the Roman road from Dunstable to Cheshunt which in its earlier times may have been a prehistoric trackway. A gem stone was therefore buried near the house to counter the unknown forces which may have been at work. The illnesses ceased. The nurseryman decided to look at a map of the district for possible leylines which may have had an influence on the troubled patch of ground. He eventually traced two lines which go roughly north and south of Nomansland Common. One reaches Wheathampstead church from the north, crosses the Common and Beech Bottom, through Bernards Heath to St. Albans Abbey. From here it travels roughly due south touching many of the features associated with leylines. This line is bisected by another which approaches the Common from the Folly (Wheathampstead) and proceeds through Hill End Farm (Sandridge) passing through the village between Sandridgebury Farm and St. Leonard's church to Marshalswick. From here it travels in a line bearing through the Camp district of St. Albans and finally leaves the town through the grounds of Napsbury Hospital to continue its journey south. However, the likelihood of a leyline existing in a straight line from Ayot St. Peter church, the ford at the river Lea, Coleman Green, St. Leonard's church and Beech Bottom to somewhere on Verulamium or the Pré Wood site is a greater possibility. It must be stressed, however, that the three leylines mentioned are only conjecture and need to be more fully explored before any positive conclusions can be reached. During
the 1998 Transco gas-pipe laying operation through the parish, at Woodcock
Hill a late Bronze Age cremation urn, with contents, was found close
to the Roman cellar excavated there.
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