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Sandridge
Village History Roman
Sandridge
With the help, enforced or otherwise, of the Vermalions the auxiliaries erected a fort which is now under St. Michael's village close by the river, and which the Romans named Verulamium. Within five years or so the fort was no longer needed and a town on the Roman pattern was laid out. This eventually became the third largest city of Roman Britain and was given the status of a Municipum ? roughly self governing. One of the first tasks of the town builders was to establish lines of communications with the rest of the Roman garrisons throughout the country and Verulamium finally had a total of five major roads leading from it, but it is not known precisely in what year or in what order they were constructed. There were the Northeast Gate, London Gate, Silchester/Cirencester Gate, Chester Gate and the Fosse(?). The North Gate does appear to have been used for a road. Probably the London and Northeast roads were given priority to meet the immediate and pressing needs of the Roman administration although in their embryo state they were probably only very well worn bridleways. There are two main Roman roads running through the parish and at the bisection of these another road meets making a five ways crossroad in the centre of the parish. The most important of these roads is the one which starts at Verulamium's Northeast Gate at St. Michael's village (the gate is now buried under the road) and arrives at the important Braughing junction after passing through Welwyn. At Braughing there is a choice to go to Cambridge, Colchester or London. Engineers of the Roman legions surveyed a road route by straight line of-sight and any change of direction took place at a sighting point. Every few hundred years a pit was excavated to provide chalk, subsoil gravel, etc., for the making of the road and the drainage ditches which usually accompanied it. The first of a line of such pits indicating the route of the Northwest Road through Sandridge is in the locality of St. Albans Girls' School in Sandridgebury Lane and is now built on. Pit 2 is just below a ridge of trees in a field between Railway Cottages and Sandridgebury House, off Sandridgebury Lane. It was filled in by the farmer of the land David Burrows c.1960s, but it is still obvious by a visible depression. Between Pits 2 and 3 the road passes through Spencer Recreation Ground. After snow has fallen and settled and when the temperature begins to rise, a long and wide strip at the far end of the field is the first area to noticeably melt which can mean that the Northeast Road is laying just below the surface. Part of this quick thawing area could also be caused by the roots of the hedge, however. If the public footway is walked from Pound Farm yard, in the field immediately on the left can be seen an agger, embankment or raised hump, which indicates the presence of the Roman road. Aggers can also be seen along the route between Pits,3 and 5. Pit 3 is in the first field to the right at the junction of Coleman Green Lane with the High Street. It was filled in years ago and is barely discernible. Pit 4 is in a field on the left close to the road south of a wood just before the crossroads is reached at Coleman Green. This has also been filled in but it is clearly distinguished by a large circle of infill stones and rubbish, very similar to Pit 3. A section of the road at Coleman Green hamlet was excavated in 1960 and the camber was revealed showing the composition of subsoil gravel foundations. A Roman coin of AD 281 was found here during the excavations. Pit 5 still exists and despite that about half has been filled in it shows quite impressively the massive hole that was dug out, about 150' across and originally probably 40' deep. It can be seen opposite the driveway to Chalkdell Farm and can only be described as a classic example of a Roman road pit. Pit 6 near Sparrowhawk bridge on the other side of the river Lea has been filled in with builders' rubble in recent times.
The second and much minor road approaches from Cheshunt in the southeast and enters the parish in the Symondshyde Wood area, making a direct line for Coleman Green where it bisects the Northeast Road. Its continuing course is marked by footpaths and rural lanes to leave Sandridge close to Devil's Dyke, crossing the top of Wheathampstead Hill to carry on along the south ridge of the Lea valley through Harpenden and reaching the Icknield Way at Dunstable. The road is not easily found and the traces of aggers which can be seen are near Symondshyde Farm and Titnols Wood. The third road starts from Baldock and travels in a southwesterly direction to cross the parish boundary at Ayot St. Lawrence. It continues to Marford to cross the ford there. This is seventy yards east of the ford where the Northeast Road crosses. From the ford it follows Beech Hyde Lane to join the crossroads at Coleman Green. This road to Baldock is 13¾ miles long from Sandridge. The 5 Ways junction at Coleman Green, only 4½ miles from Verulamium and situated two or three hundred yards from the present day hamlet, was probably quite busy and may well have been the origin of Coleman Green as a dwelling locality. The fact that even today there is a public house in this remote area may indicate its origin as a wayside stop for Roman travellers, a pull?up for cartmen after the hills. The hamlet is 400' above sea level and commands an excellent view of the Lea valley. About 200 yards or so off the crest of the hill is Tower Hill Farm/Lane. This may be an indication that there was possibly a permanent towered signal station of the Romans on this site. Verulamium could have been seen from Coleman Green and in the other direction the distance is immense over the Lea valley. Being
a peaceful and trading district generally, it is natural that this area
would abound with contemporary roads. although not all of them were
'roads' in our sense of the word. The vast majority were trackways,
ridge paths, stoned paths and such, probably evolving from Belgic ways
which existed before the Romans arrived and which meandered over the
countryside avoiding copses, clumps of trees, ponds and other natural
obstacles. However, beginning at Pound Farm there is a public bridleway
leading to Ayres End. Immediately after leaving the farmyard is a field
to the left and right of the walker. Halfway up the left?hand field
an agger can clearly be seen, but its lateral position appears to be
at variance with the accepted route of the ancient road through this
part of Sandridge. The continuation of the footpath is a 'sunken road'
or 'hollow way' formed by erosion by water on the soil and which I was
told many years ago by an aged inhabitant was 'a Roman road.' Whether
my informant mistook this for THE Roman road or had unwittingly passed
on folklore will probably not be known for a long time ? if ever. It
was probably never a road as such but could have been a cross?path linking
Sandridge to Watling Street at about 1 mile north of Redbourn. Continuing
along the sunken road, Langley Wood is passed on the left and later
Pismire Spring. More or less opposite Pismire Spring are Well Wood and
Pudler's Wood. In 1951 I penned the following report which appeared
in the Hertfordshire Advertiser: The later Saxons did not often use the Roman roads and referred to them as a 'streat'. Therefore if a place name survives with this suffix it is likely to have a Roman connection, but not always. Sandridge appeared in documents as Sandridge Street in the l7th. century which no doubt indicates a much earlier use of the name but it did not survive, unlike Park Street which still retains its name, as did Markyate Street until recent times. Pound Farm has been referred to in official documents as Street Farm. Some field names could be an indication of Roman occupation. Pit 2 is in STONY Whitstall Field and separated from it by Sandridgebury Lane is STONY Barn Dell Field; both names possibly evolving from the stony nature of the ground on which the Roman road was built only a few yards away. Opposite Pit 3 there is GRAVEL PIT Field and opposite Pit 5 is CHALKDELL Farm. The site of St. Leonard's church on a small mound overlooking the Northeast Road about three hundred or so yards away could suggest that originally it may have been the site of a wayside pagan shrine later taken over by a Christianized population. The shells of oysters a diet food of the Romans are found fairly frequently on the surface in the village. This, however, is no proof of Roman habitation as oyster=eating continued into the medieval period, even into Victorian times among well to do people. But to find a shell with a hole in it could indicate age as this would have been used as a personal adornment. There are no signs as yet of actual Roman occupation in the parish, viz., farm?houses, settlements or a villa such as that found at Park Street (but see two last paragraphs), although during the four hundred years of occupation some buildings must have been erected. Possible places where foundations of Roman or Romano?British buildings might be found are at some of the farms which exist today, for example, Water End and Hill End. In the very hot summer of 1976 crop marks, i.e., lines visible just below the surface of the ground but only normally seen from a height, were observed from eye level at a spot near the Community Centre in Spencer playing field. They were lines which could be construed as foundations of building(s). Their location is only a few yards from the buried Northeast Road and conjecture says that this was perhaps a military or customs post or official rest house some three Roman miles from the large 'pudding stone' at Kingsbury Mill, St. Albans, which is reckoned to have been the starting point for travellers. A Roman mile was 1000 paces (about 1620 yards) divided into eight stadi. One stada was therefore 240 yards, more or less equal to the later furlong of which there are eight in an English mile. A furlong was originally the length of a furrow in a common field. At this approximately 25 stadi stage in the Recreation Meadow perhaps 'import' taxes were paid or an important visiting official prepared his wash?and?brushup prior to entering Verulamium in state. The 'pudding stone' in the garden of the old Postoffice mentioned in the PREHISTORY chapter may have been a stada marker on the road, as the site where it was found lies only two hundred yards south of the Roman road. As each 'marker' along the route was reached, the cart driver would cut a notch in a tally stick to show how far he had journeyed. It is of significance, too, that this immediate area is quite level; to travel the road in either direction one has to climb. Broken Roman tiles have been found near the Northeast Road east of the railway line in Sandridge and fragments of Roman pottery were discovered in the grounds of Waterend House, one with a dog's paw on it. The chancel arch in St. Leonard's church is made of Roman bricks and the outside building angles contain fragmented Roman tiles which presupposes that a nearby Roman house was used for building material by the Saxons. Pieces of pottery of an indeterminable age can be found in House Lane at the entrance to Bolden's field by the 5 bar gate. These were identified by St. Albans Roman Museum as being Roman OR medieval. Pieces of coloured glass, burnt clay and kindred items which may be of Roman origin have been dug up in the garden of the house on the corner of Gibbons Close and House Lane, perhaps indicating a kiln of some sort was there. An inhabitant of Langley Grove was out with his metal detector and found a lead diamond?shape 'bullet' for use in a Roman slingshot, probably the armament of an auxiliary. Coins of the Roman occupation have been found in the parish. One found at Coleman Green has already been mentioned. Another came to the surface in a garden in Gibbons Close c.1970. This was an aes minted AD 125/128 in the reign of Hadrianus Augustus. In 1994 a cut?down cupro alloy sestertius coin struck by Antoninus Pius (AD 138/161) was found in the garden of Darby's Stores. On the obverse is inscribed FAUSTINA AUG PIUS AUG FIL with a female head. The female is Faustina Junior (or the Younger), wife of Marcus Aurelius. She was the daughter of Antoninus Pius and Faustina Senior (or Elder). The reverse is a female figure of Diane (or Juno) with a spear in the right hand and a bow in the left. A coin of unknown date was found in the front garden of 25 St. Albans Road. On the accompanying file is a map of various Roman coins found in the parish by a dedicated metal detectorist. During the course of sewerage operations in Beech Bottom Dyke in 1932 (part of which is in Sandridge parish) at a depth of about 14' into the Ditch, several labourers found a hoard of 100 silver coins which they immediately shared out between themselves. But word of the find leaked out and after enquiries and investigations were made some 41 coins were retrieved for examination. They were found to range from Vitellious AD 69 to Hadrian AD 118. After checking and cross checking it was stated by archaeologists that the hoard was not put in the Dyke until about ten feet of filling had already been accumulated by nature and domestic rubbish. In 1998 when the TRANSCO pipeline was being dug across the parish, the foundations of a group of buildings were uncovered but all that remained of the greatest interest was an impressive cellar. This was lined with secondhand Roman bricks, together with courses of knapped flint nodules exposing their translucent blue face. Found at the down backside of Woodcock Hill on the S bend (in full view of Fairfolds House) the excavated cellar walls were of a height enough to indicate sockets for the wooden props which supported the floor above. However, the cellar was only deep enough to stoop. Over 8000
sherds, including a few Samian and amphorae, were found when the cellar
was dug out. In addition were some bronze objects, such as an earwax
scraper, a nail scraper and tweezers. A badly corroded coin also found
was possibly 1st. century.
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In
43 AD during the reign of Emperor Claudius a Roman army commanded by
Plautius landed on the shores of Britannia. Ninety years earlier Julius
Caesar had undertaken what would be called today in military language
a reconnaissance in force. He had penetrated into Hertfordshire in what
was Catuvellauni territory and, so the story goes, defeated King Cassivellaunus
in battle at Devil's Dyke at Wheathampstead. This time, however, the
Romans launched a full scale invasion using 50,000 legionnaires and
auxiliary troops as well as cavalry. A Roman legion comprised of a section
of eight men and ten sections formed a company. Six companies, or
centuria, formed a cohort and ten cohorts made a Legion. A fighting
Legion was in practice just over 5000 fighting men plus a mounted division.
After two battles one at the river Medway and the other at the Thames
? part of the strong force was diverted when it entered Catuvellauni
region with orders to 'occupy' the native settlement of Vermalion (Prae
Wood) on the river Ver. A garrison of possibly 500 auxiliaries was established
here while the bulk of the invaders made their way to Camulodunum (Colchester)
which was now the capital of the Catuvellauni who had beaten the Trinovante
tribe in battle about a century previously and had annexed their chief
township and most of their land.