EXTIlfCT FORfiSTS OF CHESHIEE. 168 



who seem to have beea somewhat less fierce and more 

 tractable than the rest of the painted savages who were 

 once masters of our island. It does not appear that they 

 were dispossessed of their territories when the Romans 

 came, but rather that they entered the Roman service, for 

 we find traces of the camps of the Cornavii cohorts during 

 the period of Roman occupation. To the Romans this 

 district must have been very valuable. Their principal 

 outposts for keeping in check the mountaineers of Wales 

 was at Chester, a few miles to the west of the forest ; and 

 their most abundant supply of salt was obtained from 

 Northwich. A few miles to the east the old Watling street 

 ran from Chester to Northwich through the forest, and 

 joined the great main road that passed through Warring- 

 ton. The present turnpike-road takes, with a few varia- 

 tions, precisely the same course. The forest must also 

 have been useful to the Romans in providing timber 

 for the construction of their galleys, as they were obliged 

 to maintain a fortified seaport and a number of vessels on 

 the shores of Wirrall, at the mouth of the Dee, in order to 

 keep open their communications by sea with Chester. When 

 the Saxons came, this part of the country formed a portion of 

 the kingdom of Mercia. Delamere forest seems under them 

 to have been little regarded, for we have no accounts of 

 its being famous for the pleasures of the chase or of its 

 containing a large population. About the year 900, how- 

 ever, Ethelfleda built a town called Eddisbury, in the very 

 heart or 'chamber' of the forest, which soon became pop- 

 ulous, and famous for the happy life led by its inhabitants. 

 Though all vestige of this once happy town has now dis- 

 appeared, yet its name remains, and its site in the cham- 

 ber of the forest can still be pointed out. And certainly 

 a finer site the Lady Ethelfleda could not have chosen. 

 It was placed on a gentle rising ground in the centre of 

 the forest, overlooking finely wooded vales and eminences 

 on every side. A little brook rippled through a small val- 

 ley, and the old Roman road wound its way round the 

 eminence on which the town was built. This antique 



