40 
PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY OF WARWICKSHIRE. Feb., 1890 . 
Of undoubted Saxon remains we can only point to two 
places in Warwickshire. The first of these is at Tamwortli 
Castle, just within the north-eastern boundary of the county, 
where the “ herring-bone work ” in the base of the lower wall 
is very characteristic. The second example isatWootton- 
Wawen, where the lower half of the church tower is certainly 
of Saxon masonry. In each of these cases we want photographs 
taken from a moderate distance, showing the entire building, 
etc., and also several near views in which each stone would 
be distinctly represented. The best evidence of the complete 
colonisation of Warwickshire by the Saxons, consists in the 
numerous Saxon place-names which still remain. The 
names of the rivers and hills—as Arden, Avon, Rea, etc. 
—are certainly Celtic, but most of the towns and villages 
have the truly Saxon affixes of “ham,” “ton,” “ley,” 
“ thorpe,” etc. It is now pretty well acknowledged that the 
name of our new city—Birmingham—represents the dwelling- 
place (ham) of the tribe or descendants (ing) of Beorm; the 
said Beorm or Biorn being a Saxon chieftain. 
The Danes, who ravaged the east and south of England 
so unmercifully in the ninth and tenth centuries, are thought 
not to have advanced beyond Rugby, the termination by being 
distinctively Danish. The gigantic ruddy animal which 
(carved out in the turf) ornaments the “ Vale of Red Horse,” 
near Kineton, in the south-east of the county, may be either 
of Saxon or of Celtic age ; although there is a legend 
which assigns it to Neville, Earl of Warwick, in the fifteenth 
century. Neville may perhaps have “ scoured ”* it. 
In the same direction, and just on the county boundary, 
are the famous Rollright Stones, some of which are seven 
feet in height. They resemble somewhat the famous stone 
circles (Druidical) of Stonehenge and Avebury, and are 
more probably of Celtic rather than of Saxon times. 
The famous legend of Lady Godiva belongs to the very 
close of the Saxon period. Godiva (properly Godgiva) was 
the wife of Leofric, a powerful Saxon noble who died in 1057. 
He and his wife richly endowed a monastery and church at 
Coventry; and Dugdale records that in a stained-glass 
window in Trinity Church, Coventry, the stout earl and his 
fair wife are depicted, the former bearing in his hand a scroll 
with the inscription :— 
“ I Luriche for the love of thee 
Doe make Coventre Tol-free.” 
* See that capital book. “ The Scouring of the White Horse,” by 
Tom Hughes, in which he describes a similar work in Berkshire. 
