xxxi 



NOTICE OF THE ANCIENT TOPOGRAPHY OF THE SILURIAN 



REGION. 



We are assured by Tacitus, that the Silures were the most powerful and warlike nation of South Britain, 

 impatient of domination, and of great valour. Such was their confidence in their Chief Caradoc (Caractacus), 

 and so exasperated were they by the vow of the Emperor Claudius to exterminate their race, that they carried 

 on a stubborn war, not only under their great leader, but long after his capture ; defeating the legion under 

 Manlius Valens, and wearying out Ostorius, who died exhausted with efforts to subdue them. Veranius at- 

 tacked them in vain, and they were not finally conquered till the reign of Vespasian, by Julius Frontinus. 



We have no precise definition of the geographical limits of the Silurian kingdom, though Cluverius and 

 Camden state, in general terms, that it embraced the greater part of South Wales, including Herefordshire, 

 Radnorshire, Brecknockshire, and Monmouthshire : it constituted, therefore, a large portion of the country 

 described. Judging from the natural features of this region, I venture to believe, that the historian Hume has 

 not erred in supposing that it extended to the banks of the Severn \ which noble river, in some places, with 

 the ranges of the Abberley and Malvern Hills in others, are the only natural boundaries, on the north and east 

 suited to a powerful race who inhabited all the adjacent territory on the west. If Siluria was thus bounded, 

 the north-western part of Worcestershire and the southern half of Shropshire were also included in it. 

 Other geographical considerations confirm this supposition ; for as we know that the Teme flowed through the 

 Silurian territory, the passes and hills around Ludlow must have been within it ; and no one who has ever 

 placed his foot upon Mocktree Forest, or the Wenlock Edge, will believe that an enterprizing race would re- 

 main contented with the possession of one end of a chain without a flank defence, while the other offered them 

 a strong natural boundary in the gorge of the Severn. 



Again, it cannot be doubted, that the striking ridge of Caer Caradoc 2 , which ranges through the centre of 

 South Shropshire, derived its name from some of the numerous exploits of the great British chief, whose name 

 has been thus preserved for ages, though all the surrounding tract has so long since passed from the Celtic race. 



Although, however, this hill bears the name of Caractacus, it is clear that his last great battle was not 

 fought on it, since Tacitus describes a rapid and deep river (yado incerto), over which the Roman soldiers 

 forded to storm the opposite heights ; and there is no stream larger than a feeble rivulet near Caer Caradoc. 

 If the battle was fought on the northern banks of the Teme, as is pretty generally supposed, it may have com- 

 menced at Holloway Rocks, about two miles below Knighton, where the Ludlow formation presents a stony 

 and rugged line of escarpment on the left bank of the Teme, which completely recalls the graphic language of 

 Tacitus, while the river answers well to his " vado incerto," through which the legion passed. This spot agrees 

 also with the description of the historian, in being contiguous to a British camp called the " Gaer " or " Caer " 

 in which Caractacus probably made his great stand, and from whence, when dislodged, he retreated into the 

 fastnesses on the north and west, Clun Forest, Stow Hill, &c. (See Map, Camden's Britannia,, vol. ii. p, 404,) 



Some antiquaries have supposed that the last battle of Caractacus was fought on Coxwall Knoll, near Leint^ 

 wardine, and lower down the Teme, but this appears to me at variance both with the words of Tacitus and the 

 skill of Caractacus; for this knoll, as the name implies, has no rocky precipitous face (arduis montibus), and 



1 History of England, vol. i. p, 1. 



2 In speaking of the Cardok, Cradock, Querdock or Caradoc, as it has been variously written by previous authorities, 

 Dr. Gough, in his Edition of Camden, cites Pennant, who after showing that it could not have been the scite of the last 

 battle of Caractacus, yet adds, « It is highly probable that it had been a post occupied by and named from Caractacus. I* 

 has been considered from very remote times a stronghold of his,' 



