chieftain stand in arms before the Rom.n legions here on this Herefordshire 



Bea"n7 Dr. Card, who has in his dissertation on the subject warmly espoused 



this idea, thus expresses himself :— „ , , v „ 



"It .vas on this spot, now known by the name of the Herefordshire 



B..con that the lion of Britain, unweaned and roused from his native woods, 



Wore h s sinews were knit, or the age of his strength was arrived, awa. ed for 



t:: the Koman hunter in the zenith of his might, and burst ^^^^^^^^^^^J^^ 



set for him, preferring the prospect of destruction to the abasement of an 



Imnil safety. A place connected with these varied and -terest.ng ass. 



ciations clothed with every title that can ennoble, exalt, and endear xt to the 



h'To a British patriot, cannot but be regarded -*^ ^^^^-^-l-^^/^^^-^^"' 



'riing as a striking and imposing monument to record the herorsm of those 



^ho were willing to die for their country's freedom." 



But this is only fervid declamation and mere supposition Tt>e fact ot 

 the case simply are, that more than a century after the invasion of Juhus C.xsar 

 "VheyeTsVor 51, Ostorius Scapula, the Roman Vro.r.U.,^^^^^^ 

 in Britain, havirg conquered the Cangi and repressed a revolt of the B.i.antes 

 "Leices ershire, prepared to attack the Silures in the western part of the 

 IndtLing Monmouthshire and Herefordshire. Had he advanced from 

 Wo Itershire, it may well be supposed that the camp on the Beacon her 

 would be occupied against him, but it is acknowledged that l^e -ossed the 

 Srern at Aust Pa.s.ge, and entered the heart of Siluria by the valley of 

 t, Wye. Thus the Herefordshire Beacon would be useless as a defensive point, 

 d whe;ever the final conflict with the Romans took P^- and sev.a l^c. *^^^^ 

 have been named, it was certainly not here. It is unquestionable that whoever 

 a tXfoless'defended it against an enemy advancing from Worcestersh.e 

 ad that enemy, I believe, was the fierce Saxon. Eight dreai^ <=-7"-;^;/ f^ 

 between the advent of the Roman Ostorius into He-fordshire and that of tie 

 S.xon King Athelstan, who finally conquered the county. After the Romans 

 irLtain the ^aUk, as they were called by the Saxons, the successors in fa 

 of the old Silures, maintained themselves in Herefordshire long after the Saxons 

 h Id est blished themselves in Mercia and Worcestershire. The Princes of North 

 1 Wh WUes were really powerful, and made a bold defence against the 

 :;; anceof thfslxor untime beginning of the 10. h century. To then, tbis 

 c ,np was an important border fortress, and it was therefore by the BrUons 

 aZA^e Lo. ,eHo.-betweenthe years 400 and 800 that J ^ « 



this great castrametation to have been made and maintained. They had an 

 emy Ivanciug from the East, but the Silurian Britons had not. In the Angl - 

 S Ion Chronicle of Brut, as translated by Sir Frederick Madden we read tha 

 m Saxox« came to Malvern between 924 and 939. The Chronic e says tha 

 KinfMaldal then "dwelt near the Severne with very mickle folk," and it 

 S ' Alel tan to him advanced, the king of this nation-that is. Angle 

 Ltd-and held them exceeding hard and greeted t^-/i'';,^7' ^J ^^^^^^ 

 tl^m with his weapons over the AVye, and took from them the land that l.eth 



