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Some of the oldest archaeological items on display in the Settlement Gallery are the flint tools made by early humans. They are known as Palaeolithic hand axes and would have been made at least 200,000 years ago.

Each one of these hand axes would have been made by hand using a technique known as flint knapping. Hand axes like these would have been essential tools in helping early humans survive. They could have been used like hammers to break open animal bones to get to the nutritious marrow inside whilst their razor sharp edges would have easily cut through skin and flesh.

It is very likely that early humans relied on scavenging to survive, either by eating animals already killed by wild animals and by foraging for nuts, berries and roots.
Many of the Palaeolithic hand axes on display were found by Victorian workmen digging out the gravel deposits around Biddenham and Kempston.

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These socketed Axe Heads found at Wymington, are the oldest metal artefacts in the gallery. They are nearly 3,000 years old.

Axe heads made from bronze, an alloy made from copper and tin, would have been made by specialist craftsmen who were skilled in casting the hot molten metal into complex moulds to make the hollow axe heads. A wooden haft would have been pushed into the hollow and would have been tied on firmly through a small single lug on the side of the axe head. Similar metalworking techniques were used to make weapons such as spears and daggers.

During the early Bronze Age metal objects would have been rare and would have been regarded as high status objects owned by a few wealthy or important people. Sometimes high ranking individuals were buried with their prestigious objects in specially constructed mounds of earth known as round barrows.

Not all bronze axes are found in ancient graves. Groups or Hoards, to give them their correct name, are sometimes discovered buried in what are now open fields.
Hoards can be buried by their original owners for a variety of reasons, maybe to keep them secret and safe in times of unrest or as ritual offerings and gifts to the gods.The hoard of about 60 axes from Wymington was discovered by accident by agricultural workers in 1860.

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One of the most artistic and beautiful objects on display in the Settlement Gallery is the Old Warden Iron Age Mirror, made about 2,000 years ago.

The disc shaped mirror plate, made from copper alloy, is riveted on to a single handle decorated with inlaid glass or enamel. The top of the handle has slot for the mirror to fix into and this is secured by two rivets. This fixing resembles the side view of two bird heads: one looking left and the other looking right. The rivets represent their beadlike eyes.

One side of the mirror plate would have been ground and polished until the surface became highly reflective. The other side has been intricately engraved with interlocking patterns which seem to resemble the swirls seen on the surface of a lake.

Mirrors in the Iron Age would have been very rare and owning one would have been limited to wealthy or powerful individuals. Some mirrors were deliberately placed in the graves of their owner alongside other prestigious metal and pottery items.

The mirror was found by workmen in the 1850’s digging the railway tunnel at Old Warden.

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This complete Roman red ware vessel was discovered as a stray find in 1905 near Sandy. A fine well-made pottery bowl like this would have been made using a potter’s wheel by a skilled crafts-person, and it would have been fired in a specially built kiln. Often high quality vessels like this would have been made in workshops specialising in this type of ware.

The finding of fine quality Roman objects by chance in the area around Sandy was well known and drew the attention of local antiquarian collectors. John Aubrey recorded roman finds discovered near Sandy as early as 1666 in his Monumenta Britannica. The building of the railway and digging for gravel led to an ever growing number of stray roman items being recovered.

Excavations in the late 1980’s brought to light the reason for why so many roman items were being discovered, a small roman town lay buried beneath the surface.
The excavations revealed houses, streets, workshops, rubbish dumps, gardens and cemeteries. As well as being a commercial centre the town would have had an important administrative function.

It is likely that this fine red ware bowl was part of a luxury table service belonging to a wealthy merchant or official living in the town. Roman finds from around Bedford and Sandy are on display in the Settlement Gallery.

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This group of ceramic pots, metal brooches and a pair of tweezers are Saxon in date.

Personal possessions like these would have been important items to their owners and some may even have been treasured heirlooms. The importance attached to them by their owners explains why so many items like these are recovered from Saxon burials and cemeteries. The inclusion of what we call “grave goods” with the dead was an important ritual for both the living and the dead in helping to ease the final journey to the next world.

Workmen digging in gravel pits at Kempston, in the 1860’s, accidentally discovered a large pagan Saxon cemetery. Several local antiquarian collectors, James Wyatt and Rev S.E. Fitch recognised the significance of this discovery and encouraged the workmen to collect as many items as they could. These Victorian gentlemen collectors would visit the excavations daily and pay the workmen for the items they found. Graves of women and men dating to the early fifth century were recovered from Kempston.

Many of these items are on display in the Settlement Gallery. Generally women were buried wearing necklaces made of glass beads, and copper alloy brooches and rings. Most men in Saxon society would not have owned weapons; they were restricted to only those of high rank or status. Iron swords, spears, knives and shields made from iron and wood were found buried in male graves at Kempston.

The pagan Saxon cemetery destroyed by the gravel quarries was located under the site of the modern day Saxon Centre in Kempston.

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One of the most unassuming items on display is the small Viking silver ingot found at Stagsden.

The ingot has been deliberately made by melting and casting silver scrap into a small bar shape about 45mm long weighing 20g.

Vikings used silver ingots and scraps of cut up silver objects and jewellery as bullion or currency.

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Mangonel Shot from the Siege of Bedford Castle

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Mangonel Shot from the Siege of Bedford Castle

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This carved lump of Jurassic limestone has a very precise date and story to tell related to the siege of Bedford castle in 1224.

Large heavy rounded lumps of stone like this are called Mangonel stones after the catapult type siege attack weapon called a mangonel. Stones would have been loaded into a bucket at the end of the long wooden arm of the siege engine; this would then be pulled back and then suddenly released. This action would hurl the stones into the castle wall to cause maximum damage.

Bedford Castle, built in the 12th century by Simon de Beauchamp, was attacked and changed hands several times in its life.

In 1215 during the reign of King John, Falkes de Breaute a supporter of King John, took the castle from William de Beauchamp. King John confirmed Falkes’ ownership of Bedford Castle as a reward for his loyalty. Later, in 1224, after King John had died King Henry III decided that Bedford castle should be returned to William de Beauchamp. Falkes and his brother, William de Breaute refused to give up the castle and so Henry besieged the castle hoping to force their surrender.

Records show that King Henry gathered a lot of soldiers and resources into attacking the castle, he used at least three mangonels and a trebuchet to break down the walls and ordered miners to tunnel under the castle wall and set fires to crack and weaken the walls even more. Finally after 8 weeks on the 14th August the castle fell. After this victory Henry III ordered the castle to be demolished, the walls were removed and the defensive ditched filled in.

This mangonel stone was found buried in the ditch of the motte and so must have been fired at Bedford Castle sometime between 20th June when the siege began and 14th  August when the castle was taken.