and their Historic Teachings. 



63 



as far north as Cirencester, and westward along the course of the 

 Axe, was fought at Deorham — no doubt Dyrham, in Gloucestershire, 

 — at no great distance from Malmesbury. This was the contest in 

 which Ceawlin king of the west Saxons, wrested from the Britons 

 the cities of Bath, Cirencester, and Gloucester. But he kept neither 

 his conquests nor his kingdom. For, some fourteen years afterwards, 

 in A.J). 591, a great slaughter took place at " Wodnesbeorg " — 

 supposed to be Wanborough, near Swindon, but just as likely to be 

 Woodborough, near Devizes — in which Angles and Britons alike con- 

 spiring against him — u conspirantibus tarn Anglis quam Britonibus 33 

 — Ceawlin was defeated, and forced into exile. It shews us that, at 

 all events in these parts, the Celtic races lingered still, and that they 

 were a power strong enough to turn the scale of contending parties 

 in favor o£ the side which they supported. In fact it is doubtful if 

 the Teuton invader, at all events here, finally prevailed over them till 

 some three hundred years after the time of the contest at " Wod- 

 nesbeorg ; 33 and then the result was no doubt their subjection, but 

 certainly not, as some would have it, their destruction. 



I have dwelt on this especial matter, because I have long felt that 

 the idea which has often been entertained, that " the English conquest 

 was a sheer dispossession and slaughter of the people of the country 33 

 was simply and wholly a mistaken one. It is indeed amusing at 

 times to see how defiantly Englishmen in general reject the theory 

 that they are in a great degree of Celtic blood. The theory however 

 is, I believe, a true one. The evidence in favor of it is overwhelming ; 

 whilst on the other hand there is absolutely nothing but assumption. 

 Indeed the Englishman ought to rejoice in the fact ; for it is the ad- 

 mixture of Celtic blood that has made him a more enterprising, it 

 might almost be said a more vital man, than the Dutchman, or the 

 Dane. 



One thing is quite certain, that the Britons maintained their 

 ground in these parts more[or less for some centuries after the 

 settlement of the English in the island. History itself implies as 

 much ; the object of this paper is to shew that the same fact may 

 fairly be inferred from the many " footprints, 33 in their place-names, 

 which they have left behind them. 



