Editing Farnham (section)

===Prehistory===
====Stone Age====
Farnham's [[history]] extends back hundreds of thousands of years to the [[hunter-gatherer]]s of the [[Paleolithic]] or early [[Stone Age]], on the basis of stone tools such as many [[Handaxes]] found around the town. Most of these were collected by [[antiquarians]] in the later 19th and early 20th Century.<ref>{{cite web |title=News and Reports from Lithics Group |url=https://www.surreyarchaeology.org.uk/News-and-information-for-group/Lithics-Group |website=Surrey Archaeological Society |access-date=18 August 2024}}</ref> Additionally prehistoric animal bones, sometimes found together with the aforementioned flint tools in deep gravel pits such as a [[woolly mammoth]] [[tusk]], excavated in Badshot Lea at the start of the 21st century.<ref name=fpc>[http://www.frensham-pc.gov.uk/history/ Our History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206015232/http://www.frensham-pc.gov.uk/history/ |date=6 February 2012 }} on website of neighbouring Frensham Parish Council</ref> The first known [[Human settlement|settlement]] in the area was in the [[Mesolithic]] period, some 7,000 years ago; a cluster of [[Pit-house|pit dwellings]]<ref name=fpc/> and evidence of a [[flint-knapping]] industry from that period has been excavated a short distance to the east of the town. There was a [[Neolithic]] [[long barrow]] at nearby [[Badshot Lea]], now destroyed by quarrying. This monument lay on the route of the [[prehistoric trackway]] known as the [[Harrow Way]] or Harroway, which passes through Farnham Park, and a [[sarsen]] stone still stands nearby, which is believed to have marked the safe crossing point of a marshy area near the present Shepherd and Flock roundabout.<ref>Saxon Farnham by Elfrida Manning, Phillimore & Co, 1970</ref>

====Bronze Age====
Occupation of the area continued to grow through the [[Bronze Age]]. Two bronze hoards have been discovered on Crooksbury Hill,<ref>[https://archive.today/20120305105505/http://www.bvrunners.org.uk/crooksburyhill.aspx Crooksbury Hill], Farnham</ref> and further artefacts have been found, particularly at sites in Green Lane and near the Bourne spring in Farnham Park. A significant number of Bronze Age [[Tumulus|barrows]] occur in the area, including a triple barrow at [[Elstead]] and an [[Urnfield culture|urnfield]] cemetery at Stoneyfield, near the [[Tilford]] road.

====Iron Age====
[[Hill fort]]s from the early [[Iron Age]] have been identified locally at Botany Hill to the south of the town,<ref name=botanyhill>{{cite web
|url=http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHHER_1727
|title=HER 1727 - Earthwork On Botany Hill: Slight Univallate Hillfort
|publisher=Exploring Surrey's past
|access-date=15 February 2012
|archive-date=3 March 2016
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231401/http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHHER_1727
|url-status=live
}}</ref> and at [[Caesar's Camp, Rushmoor and Waverley|Caesar's Camp]] to the north.<ref name=ceasarcamp>{{cite web
|url=http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHHER_1425
|title=HER 1425 - "Caesar's Camp" multivallate hillfort
|publisher=Exploring Surrey's past
|access-date=15 February 2012
|archive-date=6 January 2009
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106050912/http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHHER_1425
|url-status=live
}}</ref> The latter is a very large earthwork on a high promontory, served by a spring which emerges from between two [[Conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]] [[boulder]]s called the Jock and Jenny Stones.<ref name=penguin>{{cite book |title=The Penguin guide to prehistoric England and Wales |author=James Dyer |year=1981 |publisher=[[Penguin books]] |isbn= 978-0-71-391164-0 |page=236}}</ref> "Soldier's Ring" earthworks on Crooksbury Hill date from the later Iron Age.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} The final era of the Iron Age, during the 1st century [[Anno Domini|AD]], found Farnham within the territory of the [[Belgae|Belgic]] tribe [[Atrebates]] led by [[Commius]], a former ally of [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]], who had brought his tribe to Britain following a dispute with the Romans. A hut dating from this period was discovered at the Bourne Spring and other occupation material has been discovered at various sites, particularly Green Lane.