Cow Roast

Cow Roast is a small hamlet in the civil parish of Wigginton, Hertfordshire, England. It is located between Tring and Berkhamsted along the A4251 and nearby Grand Union Canal. It is in the civil parish of Northchurch. Today it comprises a row of 20th century cottages together with one or two older properties including a public house. Cow Roast is on the site of a Romano-British settlement close to the route of Akeman Street.Origin of the nameThe name Cow Roast is almost certainly a corruption of the name "Cow Rest" indicating a place where there were pens and grazing to rest cattle being driven to market. The hamlet lies on an ancient drovers route through the Chiltern Hills towards London.HistoryArchaeological evidence suggest that the area was the centre of, for its time, a major extraction, smelting and trade of bog iron in Iron Age Britain.Cow Roast is the site of a Romano-British settlement which was set up close to the route of Akeman Street. The 'Berkhamsted and District Archaeological Society' began excavation in 1972, work began in an orchard nearby the 'Cow Roast Inn' for four years and for three years at the Marina; excavation then later expanded to the land adjacent to that of the 'Cow Roast Inn'. The excavation led to the discovery of a number of different Roman artifacts which led to the area subsequently being registered as an ancient monument under the protection of English Heritage and is designated as a Roman town.