Mr. Murchison on the Silurian System of Rocks. 51 



the most powerful and warlike, impatient of slavery, and of 

 great intrepidity. Such was their confidence in their gallant 

 leader Caradoc (Caractacus), and so exasperated were they at 

 the saying of the Emperor Claudius, " that the very name 

 of Silures must be extirpated," that they carried on a stubborn 

 war, not only under Caractacus, but long after his capture, de- 

 feating the legion under ManliusValens, and wearying out the 

 indefatigable Pro-Praetor Ostorius, who died when spent with 

 the. difficulties they opposed to him. Veranius, who command- 

 ed under Nero, attacked them in vain, and they were only 

 finally subdued by Julius Frontinus in the time of Vespasian! 

 British geologists, therefore, will not doubt that " Siluria" is 

 a name entitled to be revived, when they are reminded that 

 these struggles of their ancestors took place upon the very 

 hills which it is proposed to illustrate under the term " Si- 

 lurian system." Antiquaries are not agreed concerning the 

 exact spot in which Caractacus made his last stand against 

 the Romans. Camden has unquestionably erred in supposing 

 it to have been on Caer Caradoc, an error into which he was 

 doubtless led by the hill bearing the name of the great 

 chief. The existence of a river at times deep and rapid is 

 pointedly mentioned by Tacitus, and there is no such feature 

 at the base of Caer Caradoc. The site of this battle is now 

 most generally supposed to be Coxwall Knoll*, near Leintwar- 

 dine, about 10 miles west of Ludlow, and on the left bank of the 

 Teme, to which stream the hill opposes a precipitous face. 

 Having examined this locality with the eye of a soldier, and 

 with the words of Tacitus in my recollection, I am disposed 

 to doubt the accuracy of the conjecture, and I may, on some 

 other occasion, point out the reason for this dissent, and 

 suggest the position which the wily Caractacus may have 

 occupied. This, however, is of no interest to the geologi- 

 cal question, for even if Coxwall Knoll be the spot, it is in 

 the very heart of the " Silurian system" of rocks. Although 

 a profound antiquary and one to whose erudition I ought per- 

 haps instantly to defer, is of opinion that the country of the Si- 

 lures never extended so far to the north as Caer Caradoc 

 and Wenlock Edge, I am still (until decisive counterbalan- 

 cing evidence be produced,) disposed to think that the terri- 

 tory over which this warlike race exercised an influence must 

 have been prolonged to the gorge of the Severn. It appears 

 highly improbable that the north-eastern portion of a hilly 

 system, which running from south-west to north-east has its 

 natural termination in the parallel ridges of Caer Caradoc and 

 Wenlock Edge, should no thave been occupied or controlled 



* See Ordnance Map. 

 H2 



