MIDDLE STONE AGE (Mesolithic) (c.10,000 – 3,500 BC)
At the end of the last Ice Age the ice finally retreated, the sea level rose and the climate became milder. 
Forests of oak, elm and hazel covered much of England and Wales
Migrants from Europe came to Britain, bringing more sophisticated flint weapons and tools. They hunted and fished along the valleys of the rivers Ouse and Ouzel and Loughton Brook, which were less densely forested.
Large numbers of Mesolithic flints found at Bancroft on Loughton Brook, at Little Woolstone and Caldecotte on the Ouzel, may mark occupation sites of the period. Further from the rivers, the discovery of flint axes at Pennyland and Walton suggests that some clearance of woodland was being carried out on the heavier clay soils.
