22 



tory. Herefordshire, it may be conjectured, was left in peace for many years 

 after the Romans left. It probably suffered little from the Picts and Scots, and 

 other earli' invaders, owing to its remoteness from the seashore, to the seclusion 

 of its vast woods, and possibly also to the renovra for determined bravery of its 

 inhabitants. The Britons occupied here the towns and houses the Romans left, 

 and enjoyed the peace of retirement so long as they remained at peace amongst 

 themselves. It was not long to remain so. The great battle of Deorham (near 

 Bristol), which took place A.D. 577, brought the West Saxons to the Severn. 

 Ceawlin conquered here the three rulers or kings of the three cities of Corinium 

 (Cirencester), Glevum (Gloucester), and Aqufe Solis (Bath), and it is remarkable 

 that the names of these rulers were all Celtic — namely, Conmael, Condidan or 

 Condylan, and Farinmael, showing that any Romans who had remained in 

 Britain had been compelled to bow to the supremacy of native chieftains. Ceaw- 

 lin destroyed Uriconium (Wroxeter) A.D. 583, but was defeated himself at Faddi- 

 ley (near Nantwich), shortly afterwards, and was obliged to fall back, and thus 

 the Tipper Severn Valley was lost as quickly as it had been won. Welsh 

 Legends, quoted by Mr. Guest ( ' ' Conquest of Severn Valley, " A rchctological Journal, 

 xix., p. 195), "say the Saxons stretched across the Severn to the river Wye." — It 

 is probable that this was so, since Creda, the first King of the Mercians, is said to 

 have ruled from A.D. 583 to 600, when he died, and he, at least during the latter 

 part of his reign, took up his residence at Credenhill camp, making that the centre 

 of his operations through Herefordshire, as the Romans before had made Mappna, 

 lying beneath it, the centre of their works. He it was who probably destroyed 

 and burnt all the Roman towns in this county, killing or driving off the inhabit- 

 ants from this district. Saxon superstitions prevented their taking possession of 

 the towns, and thus they lived for some considerable time at least in the camps 

 they had taken possession of, and which in all probability they fortified much 

 more strongly than they had ever been before. 



It is impossible to follow further here the history of this district. " No writ- 

 ten record tells us," says Green, " how Saxon or Angle dealt with the land they 

 had made their own ; how they drove out its older inhabitants, or how they shared 

 it among the new ; how the settlers settled down in township or thorpe, or how 

 they moulded into shape under changed conditions, the life they had brought 

 with them from German shores. Even legend and tradition are silent .... 

 and any sketch of its outline must necessarily be dim and incomplete " (page 132). 

 For many years afterwards it was but a series of confused struggles, of which 

 there is but a very imperfect record, dates are unreliable, and the sequence of 

 events, the rise and fall of local rulers are alike uncertain and not to be depended 

 upon. 



It is time now to turn to the subject of investigation before us ; to enquire 

 what is known of Wall hills ; and to consider how far the actual position of the 

 camp; its local traditions, the names of places around it, with such discoveries 

 as may have been made upon the spot, may help to give it a more or less pro- 

 bable history. 



There is scarcely any mention of Wall hills in the records of local archaeology. 



