Verlamion, or Verlamio, was the tribal capital of the Catuvellauni

Catuvellauni

The Catuvellauni were a tribe or state of south-eastern Britain before the Roman conquest.The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and their kings before the conquest can be traced through numismatic evidence and scattered references in classical histories. They are mentioned by Dio Cassius, who implies...

 tribe in Iron Age Britain from approximately 20 BC until shortly after the Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 invasion of 43 AD. The etymology is uncertain, perhaps the name means "settlement above the marsh", or "[settlement of] Uerulamos [Broad-Hand]" in Brittonic.

It is believed that the capital was moved to the site by Tasciovanus

Tasciovanus

Tasciovanus was a historical king of the Catuvellauni tribe before the Roman conquest of Britain.-History:Tasciovanus is known only through numismatic evidence. He appears to have become king of the Catuvellauni ca. 20 BC, ruling from Verlamion...

 (circa 25 to 5 BC). The location of the previous tribal capital is not certain, but there are some clues in Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico

Commentarii de Bello Gallico

Commentarii de Bello Gallico is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine years he spent fighting local armies in Gaul that opposed Roman domination.The "Gaul" that Caesar...

. One possibility is a site a few miles to the north near Wheathampstead

Wheathampstead

Wheathampstead is a village and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England. It is north of St Albans and in the Hitchin and Harpenden parliamentary constituency....

, where a feature called the Devil's Dyke

Devil's Dyke, Hertfordshire

Devil's Dyke is the remains of a defensive ditch around an ancient settlement of the Catuvellauni tribe of Ancient Britain. It lies at the east side of the current village of Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England...

 has been interpreted as part of the defences of a large oppidum

Oppidum

Oppidum is a Latin word meaning the main settlement in any administrative area of ancient Rome. The word is derived from the earlier Latin ob-pedum, "enclosed space," possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *pedóm-, "occupied space" or "footprint."Julius Caesar described the larger Celtic Iron Age...

near the River Lea.
Tasciovanus was the first king to mint coins

Currency

In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...

 at Verlamion, beginning ca 20 BC. The centre grew under Tasciovanus' son, Cunobelinus

Cunobelinus

Cunobeline or Cunobelinus was a historical king in pre-Roman Britain, known from passing mentions by classical historians Suetonius and Dio Cassius, and from his many inscribed coins...

.

Defences

Cunobelinus may have been responsible for the construction of Beech Bottom Dyke

Beech Bottom Dyke

Beech Bottom Dyke, is a large ditch running for half a mile at the northern edge of St Albans, Hertfordshire flanked by banks on both sides. It is up to wide, and deep, and it can be followed for half a mile between the "Ancient Briton Crossroads" on the St Albans to Harpenden road until it is...

 a defensive earthwork near the settlement. However, it has been suggested that Beech Bottom Dyke is part of an unusually large defensive scheme including Devil's Dyke mentioned above.

Roman and later history

At some point after the Roman conquest of Britain

Roman conquest of Britain

The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...

, the original Iron Age settlement came to be known by its Roman name, Verulamium

Verulamium

Verulamium was an ancient town in Roman Britain. It was sited in the southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, Great Britain. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon...

.
In Saxon times St Albans

St Albans

St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

was founded on an adjacent hill, leaving the site of Verulamium largely uninhabited.