Some of the earliest residents of the village were the Romans, who built the Roman settlement of Bannaventa, a Romano-British fortified town on the eastern outskirts of the village located on the Roman road of Watling Street (A5 London to Holyhead road).
The four sides of the enclosure were 190 m, 200 m, 250 m and 250 m, measured clockwise from north, and enclosed an area of about 55,000 square metres.