The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Eddisbury

Hillfort

Folklore

About the year 900 [..], Ethelfleda built a town called Eddisbury, in the very heart or "chamber" of the forest, which soon became populous and famous for the happy life led by its inhabitants. Though all vestige of this once happy town has now disappeared, yet its name remains, and its site in the chamber of the forest can still be pointed out.

And certainly a finer site the Lady Ethelfleda could not have chosen. It was placed on a gentle rising ground in the centre of the forest, overlooking finely wooded vales and eminences on every side. A little brook rippled past through a small valley, and the old Roman road wound its way round the eminence on which the town was built.

This antique Saxon lady seems to have had a strange passion for building, as we are told she not only built this town, but that she also built fortresses at Bramsbury, Bridgenorth, Tamworth and Stafford, and most probably would have built many more had she not died at Tamworth in 922.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sN0wjxyotFwC&pg=PA214
From 'English Forests and Forest Trees' (1853). Information about Ethelfleda largely comes from a short Anglo Saxon document called the 'Mercian Register' which covers the years 902-24.
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
1st May 2008ce
Edited 1st May 2008ce

Comments (0)

You must be logged in to add a comment