73 
learnt from the Saga that there was a thing appointed for 
Monday fnoniing earhjj and that Harold Sigurdson did 
disembark from his slu'ps to go to this thing — "there, from all 
the shire, hostages would be brought to meet them." Early 
in the morning," the battle did begin : Henry of Hunting- 
don and Peter Langtoft tell us this. Brut-y-Twysogion — 
"Harold, unarmed and unawares, surprised by Heralt Jarl, 
son of Gotwin Jarl, and by sudden attack, aided by national 
treachery, slew." (Saxon Chronicle — " unawares beyond the 
bridged) It must, then, have been some place near " Tada," 
and ivithin reach of the Ouse, " South BicalL'' But where 
was Tada?* Why, we know from Domesday it was this 
very place where we now are met. Kirkebi, Danish, and 
Tateshalle, Saxon, names for Pontefract. (A recent writer adds 
" ceastre " to the Tada of the Saxon Chronicle, and manipu- 
lates it to suit his purposes into Tadcaster !) Strange, that 
since this was written " the Surtees Society " has edited the 
works of Simeon of Durham, and there it is stated that when 
the chief men of Xorthumbria swore allegiance to Edred, 
A.D. 949, the}^ came to Taddenesclyf (Florence of Worcester, 
and Saxon Chronicle) ; and, most satisfactory to me, I find 
this singular note. There is in the margin of the MS.: 
" Taddenesclyf erat tunc villa regia quoe nunc vocatur Punt- 
frait Romane, Anglice vero, Kirkebi." Ness is, as you are 
all aware, a promontory, it may be of any sort, either on the 
human face, or a headland in shore or at sea. There are 
" nesses " near here, and everywhere in the north: at Cawood 
Cawood ness, at Drax Xew Haagness, the nesses at Picall, &c. 
Saga — "Guthron, in answer to king Olaf: I woidd have the 
whole ness that goes out into the lake sown with corn ; on 
that ness there are ten farms." Here, then, is Tada-ness-clifi". 
* Tada, or Tate, was another name of Ethelburga, wife to Edwin ; and it was 
near a villa regia, in Northumbria, where a Witenageraot was being held, that the 
events occurred which made him a convert to Christianity. 
