Private Road into Prae Wood off A 4147 - geograph

Verlamion, or Verlamio, was a settlement in

Iron Age Britain The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ir ...

. It was a major centre of the

Catuvellauni The Catuvellauni (Common Brittonic: *''Catu-wellaunī'', "war-chiefs") were a Celtic tribe or state of southeastern Britain before the Roman conquest, attested by inscriptions into the 4th century. The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and thei ...

tribe from about 20 BC until shortly after the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

invasion of AD 43. It is associated with a particular king,

Tasciovanus Tasciovanus (died c. 9 AD) was a historical king of the Catuvellauni tribe before the Roman conquest of Britain. History Tasciovanus is known only through Numismatics, numismatic evidence. He appears to have become king of the Catuvellauni c. ...

. Its location was on Prae Hill, 2 km to the west of modern

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

Etymology

The etymology is uncertain: perhaps the name means "settlement above the marsh", or " ettlement ofUerulamos road-Hand in Brittonic.Isaac, G. R., "Place-Names in Ptolemy's Geography: An electronic data base with etymological analysis of the Celtic name-elements (2004). The elements *wer- and *lamā- meant "high" and "hand" respectively in

Common Brittonic Common Brittonic (; ; ), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, is a Celtic language historically spoken in Britain and Brittany from which evolved the later and modern Brittonic languages. It is a form of Insular Cel ...

(*-i- is adjectival, denoting a place, and *-on is the usual o-stem neuter suffix). An alternative etymology may be guessed via back construction from modern Welsh, as bank of the (River) Ver, where Ver could mean short, or be a contracted form of Veru, or Berw, meaning a foaming or bubbling river (cf Berwyn).

Iron Age

Celtic gold stater Catuvellauni Tasciovanus

It is believed that the tribal capital was moved to the site by

(around 25 to 5 BC). The location of the previous capital is not certain, but it is possible to speculate on the basis of documentary evidence (

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

's ''

Commentarii de Bello Gallico ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; ), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' (), is Julius Caesar's first-hand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it, Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine yea ...

'') and archaeological evidence for Iron Age sites in the area. One possible site was favoured by Sir

Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, CIE Military Cross, MC Territorial Decoration, TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeolo ...

, a feature called the Devil's Dyke a few miles to the north near Wheathampstead, which has been interpreted as part of the defences of a large ''

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (: ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age Europe, Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celts, Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread acros ...

'' bordering the

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in the East of England and Greater London. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Cr ...

. Tasciovanus was the first king to mint

coins A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

at Verlamion, beginning around 10 BC. There is evidence that the ''oppidum'' may have had a significant ritual function.

Roman and later history

The

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

ised name for the oppidum, and the Roman city which replaced it, was Verulamium.

Local museum

Verulamium Museum, which mainly showcases Roman items, has a pre-Roman section.Verulamium Museum
, stalbansmuseums.org.uk

Etymology

Iron Age

Roman and later history

Local museum

See also

References

Further reading