In the late pre-Roman period it may have been the capital of the Trinovantes and the seat of such kings as Addedomarus and Tasciovanus.
He is believed to have moved the tribal capital to that site from an earlier settlement, near modern-day Wheathampstead.
Though no actual comparable finds have been made, some parallels have been suggested in representations of similar caps, including a figure of the mythical horse Pegasus on a coin of Tasciovanus, the largely Romanized chief who ruled the Catuvellauni from Verlamion (St Albans) between about 20 BC and 9 AD, and was the father of Cymbeline.