8 Bradford-upon-Avon. 
Ist. That the Romans began to visit our locality about 80 or 90 
years after the final subjugation of Britain by Claudius (a.p. 
62) ; that the period when they were most numerous here was from 
about a.p. 250 to within some thirty years of their leaving Britain 
altogether; and that about the end of the fourth century, they 
began to leave our immediate neighbourhood. 
2nd. That as most of the coins alluded to have been found in 
the upper part of the town, in what is now called Budbury, the 
Roman settlement was there. 
This spot, situated at the top ofa hill, almost inaccessible at that 
time on the south or west, was just such an one as we should, from 
the customs ef the Romans, have expected them to select; and it 
was the nearest point to Bath, in which place, we know, they clus- 
tered in great numbers. There is still, in a field in this locality, 
evident appearance of earth-works, and these, a few years ago, were 
distinctly traceable in some of the adjoining pieces of ground, be- 
fore they were portioned off as garden-plots, and then levelled. 
The common name that is given to the field is the “Bed and Bol- 
ster,” which, if our hypothesis be true, may be a homely, but cer- 
tainly not altogether an inexpressive, description of the “cadlum” 
and its corresponding “‘agger” in a Roman encampment. 
Though the Romans were in our immediate neighbourhood, more 
or less, for some 300 years, yet they have left no traces, except in 
these few particulars, behind them in Bradford. There is hardly, 
in the Borough or its vicinity, the name of a single place which is 
necessarily derived from the Latin tongue. 
From a.p. 450—650. 
Hitherto we have been almost entirely in the region of conjec- 
ture. We now come toa period to which we can with certainty 
trace our town, though even yet we have but glimpses of its history. 
The kingdom of Wessex, which ultimately comprised, amongst 
others, the present counties of Wilts, Hants, and Dorset, was 
established, in a.p. 519, by Cerdic, who, after defeating the Britons 
in several engagements, made Wintan-Ceaster (or Winchester) the 
capital of his newly acquired kingdom. In the course of some 40 
