HAGLEY PAST - IT'S ORIGINS
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The earliest evidence for people in this part of the world after the end of the last ice age is to be found in the open fields adjacent to Wollescote, where well over 12,000 flint tools, weapons and associated debris have been found, and are attributed to the Mesolithic (middle stone age) period. This indicates that considerable numbers of people were around c.8,000 to c3,500 B.C. They were known to be hunter-gatherers, that is they moved around their territory killing wild animals and collecting fruit and edible plants, and living in a succession of camps sited to fit in with the known movements of the animal herds.
It is worth remembering that the ice sheet extended down to a line roughly comparable with the M 4 motorway, and also that what we know as Britain was joined to mainland Europe until c.6,000 B.C.
The period known as the Neolithic (new stone age) ran from c.3,800 to c.2,200. This period saw the beginnings of farming. This meant that the clearance of woodland was speeded up and the landscape as we know it was begun. The only local evidence for this period is a stone hand axe, which was found near the entrance to the village car park. It is now in the safe keeping of Worcester City Museum. Flints, which come from this time, have been found but in no concentrations that indicate settlement sites.
