And, no doubt, it was hereabouts, to answer the miles in the Itinerary. The village of Stretton lies a little to the north of the road; and a mile south is Brewood, another village, which they say has been an old city: it lies upon the Penk. Upon ploughing the fields they find Roman coins frequently, and much other antiquities. In that great old city, king John kept his court. A little brook runs a pasture or two below the road, and parallel to it, into the Penk, called Horse brook: it is a very full river, and the bridge is broad it runs through. The Watling-street is here east and west. Three large stone bridges cross the river in two miles. The old Roman city, no doubt, was by the road-side somewhere near here, and perhaps by Horse brook. Brewood may have been a Roman town, but it is too far out of the road for the convenience of travellers; and Penkridge is two miles and a half off, so that it can put in no claim. This town must have borrowed its name from the river, as that from the Roman city. Penkridge stands by the side of a large marsh made by the river: the church is built of good stone; a remarkable stone cross in the street. The healthiness of this country favours Mr. Baxter’s conjecture of the derivation of _Pennocrucium_. The prospect hence southward is noble, and very comprehensive. Dudley castle, and many of the steep summits of the hills in Worcestershire, are in view; together with the mighty height of the Wrekin, which, from a plain, rises like a sugar-loaf to a narrow tip, and of very difficult ascent. The Watling-street runs under it. It is good land here, warm and woody, being just beyond the moor. STAFFORD. The castle here to the north west, a mile and half off, stands on a tip of rising ground very steep to the north-west; on which they have raised a keep, or high mount of earth: on that stood a square tower of stone, part of which remains. Here is the most magnificent prospect quite round, that one can imagine; the Malvern, the Wrekin, and many Welsh mountains, lift up their narrow heads beyond the utmost horizon, and above the clouds, as it seems. To the eastward is room for the castle, fenced too with a deep ditch. This was the work of Edward the elder, in the Saxon times; or rather his sister, the virago Elfleda, A. D. 913. A little church stands near the castle, called the Castle church, with a house or two near it. The situation of Stafford is low, in a broad marshy vale, where several rivers meet; and it has been fortified quite round, the waters of the rivers favouring that purpose. Two miles directly eastward is Beacon hill, a large parcel of rocks laid upon a level eminence, and covered with grass, having a steep ascent on every side, like a camp: it has a very pleasant prospect. The town-house here is a handsome large building. Upon St. Amor heath, under Beacon hill, a battle was fought in the civil wars.