A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



As already pointed out, Northamptonshire lies between two broad 

 bands of clay formation, and the north-east opening was in the early 

 days guarded by a vast acreage of fenland, which besides harbouring 

 British fugitives, supported the tribes known to Bede in the eighth century 

 as the North and South Gyrwa, who seem to have confined themselves 

 in the main to the immediate vicinity of the Fens both of Lincolnshire 

 and Cambridgeshire. In the Making of England they are represented as 

 an Anglian tribe' attempting to advance through the woodlands of 

 Rockingham to the uplands beyond, but the spread of the Angles over the 

 county seems to be due as much to their fellow invaders from the Soar 

 valley. The exploits of the Gyrwa have never been recorded, but with- 

 out traversing Rockingham Forest, parties of settlers would and probably 

 did find an agreeable home in the valley of the Nene. The finds near 

 Peterborough will be noticed later, but it is possible that the settlements 

 at Islip, Woodford and Addington owed their origin to the Fenmen. 

 In the opinion of Dr. Stubbs, the political affinities of the tribe were, 

 like the physical affinities of their country, rather with East Anglia than 

 with Mercia, as is seen by a comparison of the descent of the two 

 kingdoms.* Possibly too their independence lasted longer than that 

 of the other tribes that contributed to the late formation of the Mercian 

 kingdom. This is no more than a guess from the little that is known 

 of their history, but the guess gains some probability from a glance 

 at their early ecclesiastical organization. 



Their connection with East Anglia probably accounts for their 

 being Christianized much earlier than their Mercian neighbours ; and as 

 ' a line drawn from the south point of Nottinghamshire to the Cam 

 would probably represent the western border of the Gyrwa,' it is possible 

 that traces of their settlement may be seen in the remains at Desborough. 

 These certainly exhibit some evidence of Christianity, and suggest that 

 the artistic traditions of Rome had not quite died out even in the seventh 

 century. 



The generally accepted view of the Teutonic conquest is that on the 

 whole the Anglian settlements were later than the Saxon, and besides the 

 negative evidence of the Chronicle, geographical considerations point in 

 the same direction so far as Northamptonshire is concerned. When 

 therefore a mixture of Saxon and Anglian elements appears in the relics 

 of the graves, the recognition of this sequence may serve as a guiding 

 principle. 



The burial ground at Marston St. Lawrence ' is five and a half 

 miles east-north-east of Banbury, a little over a quarter of a mile north of 

 Marston Hill Farm, and two or three hundred yards west of the Moreton 

 road. The field was formerly called Bar-furlong or Barrow-furlong, and 

 is situated on a high ridge overlooking the Cherwell valley to the south, 

 being only a quarter of a mile east of Arbury Camp on Thenford Hill, 



* Reasons for regarding them as British are given by Rev. Edw. Conybeare, Popular History oj 

 Cambridgeshire, p. 42. 



* Journal of j^rchceolopcal Institute, vol. xviii. p. 195. 



' The account given in Archaolo^a, vol. xlviii. is here abridged. 



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