Human Settlement in Pre-history
Some of the places in Buckinghamshire date back much further than the Anglo-Saxon period. Aylesbury, for example, is known from archaeological digs to date back at least as far as 1500 and the Icknield Way, which crosses the county, is pre-Roman in origin. There are a wealth of places that still have their Brythonic names (Penn, Wendover), or a compound of Brythonic and Anglo Saxon (Brill, Chetwode, Great Brickhill) and there are pre-Roman earthworks all over the county. Also, Cunobelinus, King of the Catuvellauni (and one of the legendary kings of the Britons) is said to have had a castle in the area which acted as an outpost (the earthworks of which still remain) and lent his name to the group of villages known as the Kimbles.
Settlement began in the area that was to become Milton Keynes around 2000BCE, mainly in the valleys of the rivers Ouse and Ouzel and their tributaries (Bradwell Brook, Shenley Brook). Archaeological excavations discovered several burial sites dating from 2000 BCE to 1500 BCE. Evidence for the earliest habitation was found at Blue Bridge — production of flint tools from the Middle Stone Age. In the same area, an unusually large (18 metre diameter) round house was excavated and dated to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, about 700BCE. Other excavations in this Blue Bridge/Bancroft hill-side uncovered a further seven substantial settlement sites, dating from then until 100 BCE.
Read more about this topic: History Of Buckinghamshire
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