The Camlet Way - the Roman Road which runs south-west from Verulamium (St. Albans) - joins the Devil's Highway at Fair Cross on Beech Hill's southern border and continues on westward to Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester).
By about 30 BC Commius had established himself as king of the Atrebates in Britain, and was issuing coins from Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester).
Ctesibius described one of the first force pumps for producing a jet of water, or for lifting water from wells, and examples have been found at various Roman sites, such as at Silchester in Britain.
Epaticcus expanded his influence into the territory of the Atrebates in the early 20s AD, taking the Atrebatan capital Calleva (Silchester) by about 25.
Grim's Ditch in the parish is supposed to be a sub-Roman bank and ditch dug to defend Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester Roman Town) when the Anglo-Saxons began to settle the area.
Silver coins of the 9th century have been found in the churchyard, dating back to the period when Kings Ethelred and Alfred of Wessex were fighting the Danes at Reading, and also the era in which Reading supplanted Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) as the local centre of importance.
The island is believed to have been at the point where the Thames was crossed by a Roman road called Camlet Way, which ran from St. Albans to Silchester.
Shefford Woodlands developed where the road linking Hungerford and Wantage (later a turnpike, now the A338) crossed the Roman road of Ermin Street linking Silchester and Gloucester.
The Roman 'Camlet Way' between St Albans and Silchester would have crossed the parish at some point and the name 'Cold Harbour' indicates there was an inn or other stopping place nearby.
At Old Sarum the road connected with the Portway to Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) and London; and from Badbury Rings roads led to the harbour at Hamworthy (Moriconium) and to Dorchester (Durnovaria).
The Agger of the Roman road from Silchester to Chichester uncovered during the laying of an electricity pipeline in 2002 and evidence of a Roman enclosure and metal working site found in Daneshill during the 1980s.
From Baughurst the brook flows eastwards though Tadley and the Pamber Forest nature reserve; thereafter it turns northeastwards, skirting below and around Silchester Roman Town, and its name changes to Silchester Brook.