ANGLO-SAXON 

 REMAINS 



OUR knowledge of the founders of England must to a great 

 extent be derived from their funeral customs and the array 

 of objects deposited in their graves. Apart from traditions 

 of the pagan period, which cannot be implicitly trusted, 

 there are indeed other sources of information not yet exhausted by 

 scientific inquiry ; and it will suffice to mention two in the field of 

 philology. In Nottinghamshire and the neighbouring counties place- 

 names are of special significance ; and the classical instance of North- 

 weorthig, which ranked among the Five Boroughs under the name of 

 Derby, indicates precisely enough the period during which the suffix -by 

 replaced the English -ham or -ton (tun] in certain parts of the country. 

 It is, however, with still earlier centuries that the present chapter deals, 

 the centuries that elapsed between the Roman domination and the con- 

 version of England to Christianity ; and for this period we can appeal 

 with still less confidence to another set of survivals, the dialectical varie- 

 ties that may still be plainly distinguished in many districts. In the 

 nature of things documentary evidence is here most inadequate, for only 

 in recent times have measures been taken to distinguish intonations by an 

 elaborate system of symbols, and year by year the material for such 

 inquiries is diminishing. The prospect for archaeology is more encourag- 

 ing. Though little has yet been done to classify or even to record in detail 

 relics recovered from the soil, it is incontestable that much remains to 

 be found, and there is every likelihood of more scrupulous and intelligent 

 excavation and treatment of antiquities in the future. 



An attempt to present the history of Nottinghamshire before docu- 

 mentary records were contemplated can, in the present circumstances, 

 result in little more than a summary of the few discoveries available ; but 

 even thus some data may be rescued from oblivion, and the interest of 

 chance finds more fully appreciated. A glance at the map will reveal the 

 most striking physical features of the county, and at once account for the 

 restriction of early Anglo-Saxon sites to its southern and eastern areas. 

 An instructive comparison may be instituted with Sussex, where the 

 longer axis similarly divides what was once a desolate forest from the 

 fertile region that attracted the earliest settlers. The Sussex Weald 

 corresponds to Sherwood Forest that occupied nearly all the western half 

 of Nottinghamshire ; and in both cases the forest area is shown by the 

 Domesday record to have been still uninhabited at least six centuries after 

 the Teutonic invasions. The villa at Mansfield Woodhouse on the further 

 i 193 25 



