xxxii NOTICE OF THE ANCIENT TOPOGRAPHY OF THE SILURIAN REGION. 



moreover is so insulated and detached from the hills, that had the battle been fought upon it, the Silures 

 must have been surrounded by the victorious Romans, and could never have escaped into their mountains. 

 The wily chief had evidently chosen a better position for his last struggle, and had wisely secured a safe retreat 1 . 



In fact, Caractacus, though beaten, not only escaped himself from this hard-fought battle, but his people 

 carried on the war for a long subsequent period, after their King had been sacrificed through the treachery of 

 Queen Cartismunda, in whose hospitality he confided. 



But however antiquaries may eventually settle the precise demarcation of the geographical limits between 

 the Silures and their less powerful neighbours the Ordovices, Cornavii and Demetce, geologists have already 

 honoured me by sanctioning the term "Silurian;" because the rocks which I describe under this name, in and 

 around the Silurian Region, occupy a definite place in the series, and fill up a wide interval in the chronology 

 of geological science. (See Introduction, Chap. I.) 



i The Rev. C. H. Hartshorne, who is preparing for publication a beautifully-illustrated work on the antiquities of Shrop- 

 shire, entitled " Salopia Antiqua," particularly in relation to the remains of military stations, informs me, that after per- 

 sonal examination of the chains of the British camps and fortresses, he has come to the conclusion, that the last battle of 

 Caractacus was fought upon the Breidden Hills. My chief objections to this opinion are, that the Severn is there too 

 powerful a stream to be forded by infantry, except in remarkably dry weather, and that the volcanic hills in question are 

 so insulated (see views, pp. 290, 300), that it would have been difficult for a large number of the discomfited Britons 

 and their king to have escaped into adjoining fastnesses when attacked by so good a soldiery as that of Rome. I speak, 

 however, merely as an old soldier, being incompetent to enter into this learned controversy, which I leave to be settled 

 by an appeal to that eminent scholar and antiquary the Bishop of Litchfield, who is well acquainted with the ground. 



In the mean time, I anticipate much instruction from the etymological researches of Mr. Hartshorne ; and I regret, that 

 not having been aware of them until after the greater portion of my work was printed, I have not been able to profit by 

 them. He informs me that the name of Stiper Stones (p. 283) has its origin in the Icelandic steypa (fusio metallorum), a 

 term singularly well applied to the fused and altered rocks of the metalliferous tract. Titterstone he derives from the Ice- 

 landic, to shake or totter, and he has substantiated the inference by clearing away the surrounding detritus from one of the 

 columns of basalt on the summit, which he found to be a rocking stone. Wenloclc, anciently Wimnicas (the place of 

 wind), Latin Venti4ocus, Venti loc, Wenti loc, Wenloclc. The Hoar Edge (pp. 121, 220), is the boundary edge, &c. I 

 sincerely hope that this zealous antiquary will extend his inquiries from Shropshire southwards throughout the Silurian 

 Region; for his " Siluria Antiqua " will, to many readers, have greater attractions than my " Siluria Antiquior." 



