From
time to time men working in the fields of Cawston have found
flint tools used by our earliest ancestors, dating from the old stone
(Paleolithic) age, about 400,000 years ago.
From the Ice Age- "Blue stones" have been found here, large boulders
carried by the glaciers and left when the ice melted. Our maps show
Bluestone Plantation in the north of our parish, and
Bluestone station
was nearby on the old railway line. At least two "Blue Stones" can be
seen today, one near the wall of Church Farm, just inside the entrance,
and another by the path near the south porch of our Church.
From the New Stone
(Neolithic) age- In Cawston a number of well
finished hand axes have been unearthed, one of the best being found
by Mr David Lee of Sygate, and presented to the school
in 1953.
Two Flint Axe Heads
found in Cawston
From the Bronze Age- In 1960 when workman digging post holes, on
on the west side of the entrance to Cawston school uncovered an Urn,
which was to contain bones, at the Castle Museum at Norwich it was
identified as a Bronze Age burial urn, the bones being those of a
young man. Tools, weapons, and fragments of food have been found
in similar urns, which were usually concealed within a barrow, or
circular earthwork. Traces of these barrows have been found in our
area, near the Cawston - Marsham boundary on the Heath, and also
on the east side of Booton Lane, opposite the hollow near the copse.
These were identified on aerial photographs by Mr Richard Clarke.
Curator of the Castle Museum, in 1956, they appeared on the
photographs as small, dark circles, and at that time it was possible,
in favourable conditions, to see them from the high bank near the lane.
A few Bronze Age tools have been found here, notably a small Bronze
axe head unearthed in a field near the Woodrow by Mr Frank Allen
when ploughing.
Bronze Age Axe found in Cawston
From the Iron Age- Beginning about 500 B.C. Little evidence of this
period has been found here, but an iron harness ring found in a well-sinking operation near the Woodrow is believed to date from the 1st
century of the Christian ere.
From the Roman Times- Cawston is not lacking in reminders of this
period in our history. An air raid in 1942 resulted in the discovery
of Roman pottery in bomb craters on the west side of Booton Road,
most of it was badly damaged, but a number of pieces are in the
Castle Museum. There are also records of the finding of Roman coins
in the Parish, including one of the 2nd Century A.D., (Empress
Faustina) found when a cellar was being constructed.
The late Mr Tom Sayer of Booton Hall noticed a rectangular
formation of "crop marks" and believed he had seen the outline of a
large Roman building, which would not be unlikely as similar evidence has been found in fields at Sygate supported by recent
aerial photographs. (1993).
Further support for these suppositions is provided by the fact that
a Roman road passed through Cawston. In the 1950's this ancient
way was clearly visible on Cawston Heath and the neighbouring
fields opposite Botany Bay Farm, running westwards towards the
Holt-Norwich road. Aerial photographs show the road nearer
Cawston, continuing past the south of Cawston Wood to Booton and
Reepham. In 1953 a group of students excavated a section of the road
on Marsham Heath, it was found to be about 5 metres wide, and
composed of five alternative layers of gravel and flint stones.
The crop-marks referred to above, near to a Known Roman road,
suggest that there may have been one or more Roman Villas near our village.
6th. Century
Anglo-Saxon- Mr Pat Waby of Eastgate found while
ploughing a form of a ring, 6cm in diameter, 5cm thick, with simple
decorations, it was identified at the Castle Museum as a 6th century
Anglo-Saxon ring brooch, made of bronze. Barbara Green, who
identified it, said that such brooches were usually worn in pairs, one
on each shoulder, with beads hanging from them.
