290 CASTERS AND CHESTERS. 



and illustrative in their way. Their farthest north- 

 easterly extension, I believe, is to be found at Leicester 

 and Towcester. The former we have already considered : 

 the latter appears in the Chronicle as Tofe ceaster, and 

 derives its name from the little river Towe, on which it 

 is situated. Anciently, no doubt, the river was called 

 Tofe or Ton, like the Tavy in Devonshire ; for all these 

 river-words recur over and over again, both in England 

 and on the Continent. In this case, there seems no im- 

 mediate connection with the Eoman name, if the site be 

 rightly identified with that of Lactodorum ; but at any 

 rate the river name is Celtic, so that Towcester cannot 

 be claimed as a Teutonic settlement. 



Cirencester, the meeting-place of all the great Kornan 

 roads, is the Latin Corinium, sometimes given as 

 Durocornovium, which well illustrates the fluctuating 

 state of Eoman nomenclature in Britain. As this great 

 strategical centre the key of the west had formerly 

 been the capital of the Dobuni, whose name it sometimes 

 bears, it might easily have come down to us as Durchester, 

 or Dobchester, instead of under its existing guise. The 

 city was captured by the West Saxons in 577, and is 

 then called Ciren ceaster in the brief record of the 

 conquerors. A few years later, the Chronicle gives it as 

 Cirn ceaster ; and since the river is called Chirn, this 

 is the form it might fairly have been expected to retain, 

 as in the case of Cerney close by. But the city was too 

 far west not to have its name largely rubbed down in 

 use; so it softened both its initials into Cirencester, 

 while Cissan ceaster only got (through Cisse ceaster) as 

 far as Chichester. At that point the spelling of the 



