Early man left little trace in this wet area
though an iron age farm has been recreated on the site by local archaeologists (thanks to Cambridgeshire Heritage Archaeology Service for this picture of an Iron Age Farm at dawn.

The Romans are the first inhabitants of which we have certain knowledge.
Probably at least one villa was built on the Huntingdon side of the river. The Roman construction of Ermine Street, running north-west through the town, made this an important crossing point for the River Ouse, south to London and north to Lincoln and York. It is quite possible that the Romans built defensive earthworks to guard the northern side of the river above Godmanchester,where the castle mound now stands, although there is no archaeological evidence to prove this.

The story of Hinchingbrooke itself begins in about the 6th century.

Anglo-Saxons from what is now Denmark, Holland and north Germany occupied East Anglia following the collapse of the Roman Empire in around 400AD. The new settlers built new homesteads and farmed, having their own language and culture. The regions formed little kingdoms and the kingdom of the East Angles was one. The most famous relics from this period come from Sutton Hoo north of Ipswich. It's worth visiting the The Sutton Hoo Society and the National Trust website on Sutton Hoo where there is a rotatable model of the Anglo Saxon helmet. Inland areas such as Hinchingbrooke, on the edge of the Angles kingdom were populated later than sites like Sutton Hoo which had access by sea to Germany, Denmark and France.Therefore we expect Hyncel to arrive later in the period - say 600 AD.

One man, called Hyncel, sets up house on a piece of rising ground near Alconbury Brook and the spot becomes known as HYNCELING BROC - meaning "the stream of the tribe / family of Hyncel". An Anglo-Saxon village has been partly reconstructed in the grounds of Hinchingbrooke Country Park ...

...here it is being constructed ...	... similar to this house at West Stow

For recent early artefacts discovered during archaeological digs in the area visit this site and look at their gallery

We know little else of this time on our particular piece of land, but archaeological evidence as well as written records exist for Huntingdon itself.