HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 9 



fenced in some places with a double trench or rampart ; oppo- 

 site to this/Ion the heath, is a place called Camp-hills, between 

 which and the Burgh is a large conical hill called Coplow, supposed 

 to be the burial-place of some celebrated commander siaju in battle 

 here.* 



Upon an eminence, near Alveton, on the north-east border of the 

 county, are the remains of another fortress called Bunbury, simi- 

 lar to, but much larger, than that at Mere: it is of an irregular 

 form, encompassed with a double, sometimes treble trench, from 

 north-west to north-east (the rest being inaccessible by nature), 

 and includes in the whole an area of one hundred acres. This for- 

 tification is supposed to have been raised by Coelred king of Mercia 

 (Kenred's successor), when he was invaded, in the seventh year of 

 his reign, by Ina king of the West Saxons, A.D. 716. 



The ancient fortifications of Tamworth, and the Lows of Elford 

 and Wiggington, will be noticed hereafter. 



Near the village of Billington, in the parish of Bradley, is an old 

 doubly-entrenched fortification, 300 yards in diameter, which, ac- 

 cording to ancient writers, marks the place of battle between duke 

 Wad a an d the other murderers of King Ethelbert on one side, and 

 king Earlduff, his successor, on the other ; but this part of oiir 

 history is very obscure. 



The old fortifications on Kinfare-edge, of an oblong figure, 300 

 yards long and 200 wide, with an artificial bank cast up round them, 

 and fenced with a deep ditch on the N.N.E. and s.s.vv. sides (the 

 edge or hill on the other side being inaccessible), are said, 

 by tradition, to be of Danish origin; but the name seems more 

 properly Saxon, and the neighbouring parish of Wolverley is evi- 

 dently named from Wulfer (Wulfer-ley), whence it seems probable 

 that Kinfare-edge was occupied by Wulfer, the Saxon king of 

 Mercia. 



Barrows or Lows-[ are still to be found in many parts of the 

 county : these were heap* or mounds of earth, raised as monuments 



* Ileni'y of Huntingdon asserts, that about the year 705, Osrid king of 

 Northumberland, was slain at Meare, by Kenred king of Meroia, whose do- 

 minions he had invaded ; that the tumulus at Coplow received the body of 

 Osrid, the lows and hillock on Camp-hills those of the soldiers slain, and 

 that the Burgh was the strong-hold which Kenred raised against his enemy. 



+ Some of these Lores were perhaps raised upon civil occasions : those on 

 high grounds may have been merely exploratory or elevated for a prospect or 

 look-out. The following have been observed in different places: one near 

 j 'called Offlow, and supposed to give name to the hundred ; a large ofla 



B 



