Sandy
Romans

Places > Sandy > Archaeology

Roman finds have been recorded in Sandy from at least the seventeenth century. John Aubrey, the famous antiquarian, recorded finds from Chesterfield including an urn "red, like coral" in his Monumenta Britannica in 1666, and more finds were made in the nineteenth century during the construction of the Great Northern Railway. More recently, excavations in the town's cemetery revealed further Roman archaeology and human graves. One skeleton was found with a copper alloy bracelet on the forearm. Three other burials had pottery vessels placed with them.

One of the most important finds from the cemetery excavations was a large Roman sandstone sculpture showing a group of two male figures and one female, dating to the second or third century. Other finds included a gilded broach of the third century with a winged Victory engraved on a black glass intaglio, a rare ivory panel that was once part of a small casket and a nail cleaner engraved with a Chi Rho (a sign of early Christianity made up of the first two letters of the Greek 'Kristos', Christ).

There has been some debate over what sort of settlement Sandy was, a small town or a village. A report by Bedfordshire Archaeology Service in 1993 concluded that Sandy was probably an agricultural centre that was also involved with providing services to road travellers. It was also suggested that the Roman settlement originated with a late Iron Age site. There are three Iron Age enclosures in the surrounding area (Caesars Camp, Galley Hill and Sandy Lodge) and Iron Age pottery has been found in the area of the Roman settlement.

Sources

• Bedfordshire Archaeology Service, Sandy, 1993
• Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service, Roman Sandy, 1997
• Bedfordshire County Council, The Discovery of Roman Sandy, 1990
• Simco, Angela Survey of Bedfordshire, The Roman Period, 1984

Roman Sandy, by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2007

Page last updated: 4th February 2014