A120 Bypass and Flood Alleviation Scheme, Hertfordshire

Results of the A120 Bypass and Flood Alleviation excavations at Little Hadham.

A few scatters of Mesolithic and Neolithic flint were found, along with a small number of pits from which flint-tempered Neolithic pottery, worked flint, charred plant remains and animal bone were recovered. During the later Bronze Age and Iron Age the first permanent settlements were established comprising post-built circular structures and pits; cremation burials were also found. Settlement began in the river valley and the western edge of the clay plateau, but during the Iron Age settlement shifted onto the clay plateau, with the creation of a five-sided enclosure. By the Late Iron Age and Roman period a farmstead and managed fields were established. This farmstead was of complex type and seems to have been involved in the large-scale production of spelt. There was limited evidence for Saxon activity. The remains of a tree-lined avenue may have been associated with the 17th-century Hadham and Wickham Halls, which were owned by the Capel family.