A HISTORY OF WARWICKSHIRE 



fix upon the eastern border of Gloucestershire as the dividing line 

 between them so long as the West Saxon dominion centred in the upper 

 valley of the Thames. The general similarity of the pagan relics dis- 

 covered in the diocese is all in favour of a connection that is suggested 

 by geographical considerations. A conquering people whose chief desire 

 was to acquire the most fertile lands of the Britons would find no 

 obstacle at the point where the Avon enters Warwickshire ; and the 

 occurrence of a certain kind of brooch at Bidford 1 and at other points 

 further up the river shows a connection with the West Saxon Hwiccan, 

 while the diocesan boundary included the southern part of the county 

 with most of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire east of the Severn. 

 The first bishop of the Hwiccans was consecrated about 679, and it is 

 therefore to be expected that signs of paganism should here appear in 

 graves that on archaeological grounds may be assigned to the seventh 

 century. As the heathen practice of burying arms and ornaments with 

 the dead was gradually abolished, a lower time-limit is secured for the 

 generality of graves so furnished ; but there is something also to give 

 the earliest date for Teutonic burials in these parts. If the early entries 

 of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are to be trusted, the battle of Deorham 

 in 577 marked the establishment of the West Saxons in what was after- 

 wards to be the Hwiccan realm ; and a century later the conquests of 

 Ceawlin were ratified by the Church. It has been suggested 2 that 

 Fethanleah, the site of an important battle in 584, should be looked for 

 not in the neighbourhood of Chester, but rather in the Avon valley ; 

 and in the time of Offa, two centuries later, there was in fact a place 

 Fa-hhaleah not far from Stratford-on-Avon, which would be a likely spot 

 for a Hwiccan victory if the advance took place up the river valley. 

 The Fosse Way would also be a convenient route from the south-west, 

 and enable the Saxons to occupy the part of Warwickshire south of the 

 Avon that was long known as Feldon to distinguish it from the forest 

 district to the north. 



What may be regarded as a link between Romano-British civiliza- 

 tion and the comparative barbarism of the Teutonic conqueror has come 

 to light in the county. This interesting discovery was communicated by 

 Mr. M. H. Bloxam to the Northampton and Warwickshire Architectural 

 Societies in i85i, 3 and was at that time attributed to the Romano- 

 British period. Eight years before, some labourers had been employed 

 to fill up an old gravel-pit about half a mile north-west of Newton 

 Lodge, in the parish of Clifton-upon-Dunsmore, and in levelling the 

 surrounding soil had found the remains of eight or ten human skeletons 

 buried a little below the surface. Among the objects deposited with the 

 bodies was the bronze handle of what in all probability had been a 

 Roman skillet, such as have occasionally been found in interments. 



1 Two specimens of the saucer brooch are preserved in the museum of the Victoria Institute at 

 Worcester, but no particulars of the discovery are available. 



2 By Rev. C. S. Taylor, Tram. Bristol and Glouci. Arch. Soc. (1896-7), p. 354. 



3 Reports f Associated Architectural Societies (1850-1), Nortkants, p. 229. 



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