515 
at all. There is Diderston, but the dissimilarity of the 
names is so great, that it is impossible to identify it with 
Wilfaraesdun ; and on the borders of Yorkshire and Cheshire 
is Wilber Clough, but no place resembling Catterick in 
name near it. In Northamptonshire, however, there is 
Wilbarston, about eight miles north-west of Kettering, and 
this I feel satisfied is the place, and believe that Venerable 
Bseda must have confounded Kettering with Catterick in the 
information that was given to him relative to the scene of this 
meeting. It may be objected that Wilbarston and Kettering 
are not within the limits of the ancient kingdom of 
Northumbria. To this I would reply, that at the period 
when these events took place, the kingdoms of Northumbria 
and Mercia were not defined by the limits which they after- 
wards had. Mercia, originally a small state, was rising at 
the time into greater consequence under the first of its kings 
who plays any part in history ; for of his predecessors, except 
the first Offa,* we know nothing more than the names. In 
the genealogies appended to some copies of Nennius, we read 
" Penda reigned ten years ; he first separated the kingdom 
" of the Mercians from the kingdom of the Northumbrians." 
This indicates that Penda's declaration of independence was 
A.D. 645, ten years before his death, but his kingdom must 
have been very limited in extent at first. The dominions 
of iEdwini had extended even to the frontiers of the West 
Saxon Kingdom, as is evident from the story of Cwichelm's 
attempt upon his life, and his subsequent invasion of 
Wessex, which could scarcely have taken place at a later 
time, when the powerful kingdom of Mercia intervened 
between it and Northumbria : and what we read of the 
missions of St. Paulinus in Lincolnshire and Nottingham- 
* That Offa did reign in part of what was afterwards the kingdom of Mercia, 
about the beginning of the sixth century, though it is doubted by some persons, I 
hope to have an opportunity of proving at some future time. I feel perfectly 
satisfied that such was the fact. 
