Prehistoric

The only street-name in Cambridge that has connections with prehistoric times is ARBURY Road. The name is spelled Herburg, Ertburg, and similarly in thirteenth-century documents, and means earthwork. It used to be thought that Arbury Camp, at the north end of the road, was a fort like the one at Wandlebury or the War Ditches on LIME KILN Hill, south of the reservoir (now destroyed), but it is today regarded as an undefended site. A low circular bank and ditch about 100 metres in diameter, it was almost certainly an Iron Age enclosure for keeping animals safe from wolves and robbers. (See Alison Taylor, Prehistoric Cambridgeshire, 1977, and Sallie Purkis, Arbury Is Where We Live, EARO, The Resource Centre, Back Hill, Ely, 1981.)

Roman

In the late first century bce Catuvellaunian settlers created a village on the spur of CASTLE hill. This was abandoned at the time of the Roman conquest, and between 43 bce and 70 ce the Romans built a military camp there. The Catuvellaunians may have taken part in the rebellion of Boadicea after 60 ce, or have suffered for it. The Romans were not there to tolerate insubordination. (See David J. Breeze, Roman Forts in Britain, 1994.)