4:32 Mr. Tate on Yevering Bell, &c. 



narrating the conversion and baptism of Edwin king of 

 Northurabria and of his people in the province of Deiri, he 

 relates those things which happened in the province of Ber- 

 nicia. " So great," says he, " was then the fervour of the 

 faith as is reported, and the desire of the washing of salva- 

 tion among the nation of Northumbrians, that Paulinus, at a 

 certain time coming with the king and queen (Edward and 

 Ethelberga,) to the royal country seat, which is called Adge- 

 frin, stayed there with them thirty-six days, fully occupied in 

 catechising and baptising ; during which days from morning 

 to night, he did nothing else but instruct the people resort- 

 ing from all villages and places in Christ's saving Word ; 

 and when instructed, he Avashed them with the water of abso- 

 lution in the river Glen, which is close by. This town under 

 the following kings was abandoned, and another was built 

 instead of it, at the place called Melmin, (now Millfield). 

 These things happened in the province of the Bernicians."* 



That Ad-gefrin and Yevering are names of the same place 

 is sufficiently proved ; the change which time has made in 

 the old word is not greater than the transmutations of other 

 names ; the district in which both are placed is the same, for 

 Saxon Bernicia is the present Northumberland; and the river 

 Glen close by Ad-gefrin still retains its name. Mediaeval 

 records confirm the conclusion. In an old document respect- 

 ing the Vicar of Newton in Glendale, Yevering is called 

 '' Gevera;" the rhyming chronicler Harding calls it " Gete- 

 ryne," and in escheats made in 18 Henry VI., it is written 

 " Yevern Villa belonging to Rad'us Grey Miles." 



Of the Saxon Melmin there is now neither trace nor tradi- 

 tion ; probably, however, the modern village stands on the 

 site of the Saxon town, but the continued occupation, from 

 the Saxon period down to the present time, may have entirely 

 obliterated the relics of the Saxon era.f Ancient British 

 remains have been found at Millfield ; leaf shaped bronze 

 swords were discovered there ; and in the same locality a 

 very large urn, 15 inches in height, ornamented with the 

 common zig-zag pattern, was found standing on its mouth 

 and covering burnt bones under a tumulus ; this interesting 

 relic is carefully preserved by Mr. Grey of Millfield Hill. 

 In this neighbourhood one of the last struggles was made by 

 the ancient British people for their independence; for accord- 



* Bede's Eccles. Hist. Book i., chap. 14. 



t At Evvart, not far from Yevering, a Saxon fibula was found, which is now 

 in the possession of Sir Horace St. Paul, Bart. 



