All the sites and finds mentioned on this page are within two miles from the centre of the town. Many of the finds mentioned are in Guildford Museum. The town of Guildford itself was not founded until later, in the Saxon period, around AD 500
The Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age: 500,000 - 10,000 BC
This is the period when humans developed. They lived by hunting and by gathering edible plants. They moved around, living in caves or camps and used tools made of flint, wood or bone. During parts of this period Britain was covered with ice. It would have been too cold for humans to live here and they would have moved south to warmer areas as Britain was still joined to Europe at this time. There is no evidence of sites where Palaeolithic people lived in the Guildford area, though many flint axes have been found on the river terraces at Farnham. A mammoth tooth was found in the railway cutting near London Road station in the 1880s.
The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age: 10,000 - 5,000 BC
Mesolithic people used very different flint tools to their predecessors. In particular, they made tiny, delicate tools called microliths. Concentrations of flint flakes have been found on the sand hills of St Catherine's and St Martha's. Two Mesolithic flint axes have also been found in the area.
The Neolithic or New Stone Age 5,000 - 2,100 BC
Farming began in the Neolithic. People began to domesticate wild animals and to cultivate crops. Some of the ideas, and some crops, including wheat and barley, were introduced by immigrants. Farming allowed people to live a more settled way of life. In turn this allowed the development of pottery. Very few Neolithic settlements have been found in England. Large earthworks for burial mounds and other religious sites are well known, though not in Surrey. Our only burial mound was at Badshot Lea. Neolithic people built large earthen monuments known as causewayed enclosures, henges and cursus. Their function is not fully understood but must have involved large communities in what we would regard as ritual or religious activities.
In the Neolithic axes were made of flint and other stones and were finished with the new technique of grinding and polishing them. Stone axes came from specific quarry sites in, for example, the Lake District and Cornwall. Although stone axes have been found in Surrey, but so far only a flint axe is known from Guildford. Flint tools and waste flakes have been found in the sand at the Chantries, St. Martha’s, St. Catherine’s, Shalford and Merrow Downs.
The Bronze Age c. 2,100 - 750 BC
The use of bronze developed in England towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC. At first it must have been expensive and flint and stone tools continued to be used. Several bronze tools have been found in Guildford including an axe that was found on St Catherine’s Hill with a bronze disc and a cast bronze ornament. Two Late Bronze Age spears have been found in Guildford.
Very few Early Bronze Age domestic sites are known. There is more evidence for Late Bronze Age sites. Burial sites are more obvious, and there is a round barrow at Tyting. It has not been excavated, but a bronze axe was found nearby.
Early Bronze Age people were also buried in flat graves, whilst in the later Bronze Age the dead were cremated and the ashes buried in pots. A Bronze Age pot containing burnt bones was found at Henley Grove around 1781.
The Iron Age 700 BC - AD 43
Archaeologists think that the Iron Age developed out of the Bronze Age. However, there were certainly links with tribes in Gaul at the end of the Iron Age. Coins were used for the first time in Britain. The coinage was certainly influenced that in use in Gaul (modern France). The coins may have been imported. One gold coin has been found in the Guildford area. Surrey was part of the area controlled by the Atrebates tribe.
Very little Iron Age metalwork is known from Surrey. There is a bronze brooch from Guildford, and an iron spearhead from Merrow Downs, found with a hand quern for grinding flour.
Most of the finds are pottery. By the 1st century BC the potter's wheel was being used, producing better vessels than the earlier hand-made ones. A rare Iron Age pottery kiln was excavated on St. Martha's Hill, with a flue made of triangular clay loom weights and pottery. Iron Age pottery has been found on St. Catherine's Hill and at West Clandon.
No Iron Age settlement or burial sites have been found around Guildford.
The Roman period AD 43 - c. 410
The Romans invaded Britain in AD 43. The Atrebates seem to have been friendly to Rome, and may already have been used to Roman imports. There are, therefore, no known military sites in Surrey. There was no tribal centre in this area to develop into a large Roman town like Silchester or Winchester.
The nearest Roman settlement was probably at Burpham, but there were villas or smaller settlements in the Guildford area including Broad Street Common and Compton.
There is a scatter of Roman coins from the Guildford area. Cremation burials have been found on Merrow Downs and at Tying.
Guildford Museum
Castle Arch
Guildford
Surrey
GU1 3SX
Tel: 01483 444750
Email: museum@guildford.gov.uk