Historic Background
Ardleigh has been a centre of human habitation for well over 3000 years. The richest source of archaeological finds has been to the south-east of the village, in the area around Vince's farm. These finds provide evidence of human activity and occupation in the early and late Bronze Age, the early and late Iron Age and the early Roman period.
When the Romans embarked on their local road-building programme they would have taken into account the position of existing settlements. Ardleigh seems to have been on the main traffic routes at that time. The main road between Colchester and Ipswich, the old A12, is a Roman road, bordering Ardleigh for nearly a mile. But there was also another Roman road which can be traced from Hythe Quay in Colchester to Mistley Quay, in a straight line of eight miles. It passed through Crockleford Hill and what are now Cherrytree Farm, Slough Farm, Ardleigh Park, Park Farm, Chancery Farm, Vinces Farm, Old Shields and Badley Hall, continuing through present-day Lawford, Lawford Grange and Mistley Hall Park.
The Dark Ages between the end of the fourth century and the Norman Conquest reveal little of Ardleigh's subsequent history, but the millennium following the Norman Conquest is extremely well documented.
