440 
Site and Modern Name of Bibracte, Kc, [Dec. 
^•(hnse situations, from want of numeral^ 
in this Iter, are yet unknown: time, with 
more inforinacioii, may- yet perhaps re¬ 
cover their sites. I have also given you 
ike places of izco more hdheno-unknou n 
fu'.es, and haie, I conceive, settled the 
disputes on Vuidonum. In the follow- 
iiijl it will be found that I have further 
ascertained the place of the long con¬ 
tested station of Bibracte. 
Bibracte is a station only once men¬ 
tioned in any Iter, and that is by Richard 
in the Road from Londinum to Caleva; 
it is stated to be twenty miles from each 
of these places. I have already shewn 
tliat Caleva was near Reading: from 
Re ading there is a camp at Laurence 
Waltham, in the route which I suppose 
led to Bibracte or Tl hidsor. 
WiKDsoR has been considered by wri¬ 
ters as an eminent old pass: from this 
pass to London there is an old camp or 
two on Ilounslow-heath, lying nearly in 
the line between these places. A con¬ 
necting road would therefore necessarily 
attend these works and stations; and 
uheii the country lay open, this would be 
carried in the straightest line of which the 
ch'cumstances of the ground would admit; 
and hence the distance in Richard of 
twenty iniies may liave been correct. 
From London to the west, by the pre¬ 
sent way of Egham, there was, before the 
bank was constructed, no road : but at 
some place south of Bibracte there might 
he a station which Richard lias omitted. 
Whether tliis may he ti aced from some 
Points on the streams, or its name w-ere 
given from Bridges attending the station, 
t will not determine. It is sudicient for 
me at present to be enabled to trace a 
line in which Bibracte may most reason¬ 
ably be supposed to have been situated; 
and hud in this line a place exactly an¬ 
swering the description which this word 
conveys. Tlie old name of this place, 
like that of many others, seems to have 
been lost, except in Richard; and the 
castle anti niota (which is also a Gaelic 
name for a castle) are the only names ou 
record, by which it has been in later 
times known. The manor in which it 
lies IS in Doomsday Book Clitore, that is, 
tlie Cliff Border Manor. In this name 
‘lie hill is called the ClitTe. Ami if TLni 
be, as usually, derived from Binn, or Finn, 
a peake, or cliffe, changed to Vin and 
IF in, then Wnndlesnfra, the oldest Saxon 
name* may be derived from this same 
Clffe, We shall soon see bow this an- 
swc^rs to Bibracte. 
New Windsor is a high cliffe over¬ 
hanging the river Tames, and is the most 
remarkable Nose, or pointed Headland, on 
the whole river. It had a castle, but of 
its founder and age- we know notiiing, 
except that it was here before the con¬ 
quest. At St, Leonard’s hill, in its vi¬ 
cinity, remains have been found, which 
some have supposed Roman. At 014 
Windsor “ ancient foundations,’^ and 
even “ Roman bricks, &:c.” are said to 
have been discovered. Old Windsor 
was early the residence of Saxon kings. 
It must therefore have had a public road 
leading to it; and this, most likely, led 
straightfrom London, between the present 
Bath and Salisbury roads, near the old 
camps which are found in this line. 
Our old names had never been traced 
by any author ancient or modern, so as 
to convey that information by them 
which they were originaliy intended to 
impart. Every topographical writer had 
indeed tried to explain these, but our 
books contained essays to shew the un¬ 
skilfulness only of their authors. There 
is. notwithstanding often so very singular 
a relation between the old names and the 
places they represent, and also between 
the old and more modern names of 
places, that the evidences for situation 
arising from these are too strong to be 
questioned by persons who wisli to cona- 
prehend the subject: but the terms for 
the features of nature have not been 
understood, and we have been treading 
on darkness and confusion for centuries. 
The word Bior is water, and Ac in 
various instances means Border Land; 
hut water border land being in ancient 
times marshy, Biorac became the name 
for a marsh. Besides the general names 
for vvarer border, whether marshy or 
drained, it was neces!^ary to hzive partis 
cular names for its extraordinary fea¬ 
tures. The land which runs into a re¬ 
markable nose or promontory- on a 
stream, like that at Windsor, is now- de¬ 
noted by the termination Ness, as in 
Tot ness, which means the head or hill 
nose; in the Gaelic, however, this adjunct 
is also made by AcJid, or Acht, whicli 
would become Act in Bioract,* or Bi¬ 
bract, (of wliich the name in the ablap 
live case is Bioracte,t or Bibracte;^) and 
tills would imply the ^Vklter Head Land 
Nose, or Promontory. 
* See Bwracts in a former Magazine, 
where ics change to Bibracte is accounted for. 
■f The names of stations are chiefly given 
in the Itinerary in the ablative case. 
4: The Bibroci have been urilearnedly called 
by a modem vvriter “ The Bibracte." 
Head 
