PREHISTORIC
EVERTON
About 28,000 years ago, the last Ice Age came to an end. As the
weather got warmer and the ice sheets covering Britain and the northern
hemisphere melted, migrating sea birds dropped seeds onto the boulder clay,
sands and gravels dumped by the retreating ice. Vegetation eventually took hold
and plant succession led to the whole of the country being covered in temperate
forest and grasses. Coniferous generally dominated the norOleythern uplands or the poorer sandy soils as in
this area. Deciduous trees took over in the south on the lower, heavier soils.
Animals followed and with the abundance of fruits and seeds in the woods, fish
in the rivers and streams of glacial meltwaters, the area was gradually settled
by the prehistoric hunters and gatherers from Europe.
The major routeways of these
ancient peoples was easiest along the river valleys but a safer way was a
trackway along the hill or ridge tops. Here thinner soils supported less trees
and made access and defence easier. This area of the Great Ouse Valley was a
natural north-south corridor and evidence of neolithic settlement has been
found within it as well as the surrounding
slopes and hilltops. The ridge of Upper Cambridge Greensand which
dominates this area has its peak at Sandy Hills and was the site of what is
thought to be an Iron Age hill fort. The heavy Oxford clay and the numerous
gravel deposits of the valley floor provided a variety of agricultural land for
the first settlers. But first the
forest had to be cut down.
Flint was the major cutting
tool in the days and one such implement was unearthed just south of Everton by
the junction of Potton Road with Everton Heath Road. (TL 208508; Beds. Arch.SMR
14657) Cutting down the forest to create clearings for crops and pasture would
have continued over the centuries. Trees were cleared not just to create arable
or pasture land but also for heating, cooking, building materials, fences,
tools, weapons, carts etc. Whilst this flint may have been dropped by a passing
traveller there is archaeological evidence suggesting there was an early
settlement about 400 metres to the east on the site of the present Burford
Farm. (O.S.209512) It has been suggested that that this may have been the first
site of Potton. Perhaps there was once a spring there but, over the centuries
the water table gradually dropped and once the trees on the Heath were cut down
the settlement moved two kilometres southeast to Potton's present site near the
brook.
However, there is
considerable archaeological evidence of pre-Roman agricultural communities in
Everton. Several prehistoric hut
circles or enclosures have been located from aerial photographs along the
northwestern slopes of the Greensand Ridge as well as on the ridge top. These
have not been excavated so it is difficult to determine their dates exactly.
(Beds. Archaeology Dept. SMR 13622,13640,13649,13650) Field walking might
reveal further evidence of these early settlements which would probably have
been accommodation for extended family units. However, at least two thousand
years of subsequent farming have obliterated most of these sites. All of them were sited very close to fresh
water springs. As the trees in the valley were cut down these early peoples
created larger and larger clearings in the woods. These gave them greater
control of access up the slope from the valley below as well as along the ridge
top track. Whether the many ponds along the edge of the ridge date from
pre-Roman times is again unknown. One would imagine they were dug out to
increase and improve water supply. These ponds, the hut circles and the flint
confirm that Everton has had a long history of agricultural use.