[16] At York, a prehistoric crouching skeleton was found by Messrs Benson and Platnauer when excavating the castle hill in 1903, 4 feet 6 inches below the level of the ground. The motte at York appears to have been raised after the destruction of the first castle, but whether the first hillock belonged to the ancient burial is not decided by the account, "Notes on Clifford's Tower," by the above authors. _Trans. York. Philosoph. Soc._, 1902. Another instance is recorded in the _Revue Archæologique_, to which we have unfortunately lost the reference. [17] From the report of a competent witness, Mr Basil Stallybrass. [18] Earle, _Two Saxon Chronicles Parallel_, Introd., xxiii. [19] Nennius says that Ida "_unxit_ (read cinxit) Dynguayrdi Guerth-Berneich"=a strength or fort of Bernicia. _Mon. Hist. Brit._, 75. Elsewhere he calls Bamborough Dinguo Aroy. It is quite possible that there might have been a Keltic _din_ in a place so well fitted for one as Bamborough. [20] Bede, H. E., iii., 16. [21] See Bede, as above, and Symeon, ii., 45 (R.S.). [22] We infer this from the strong defences of what is now the middle ward. [23] The fact, however, that the _Trinoda Necessitas_, the duty of landholders to contribute to the repair of boroughs and bridges, and to serve in the fyrd, is occasionally mentioned in charters earlier than the Danish wars, shows that there were town walls to be kept up even at that date. See Baldwin Brown, _The Arts in Early England_, i., 82. [24] See Wright, _History of Domestic Manners_, p. 13. [25] The Danish fortress of Nottingham is mentioned by the _Chronicle_ in 868, but we are speaking now of purely Anglo-Saxon fortresses. [26] Asser, ch. 91, Stevenson's edition. [27] "That same year King Alfred repaired London; and all the English submitted to him, except those who were under the bondage of the Danish men; and then he committed the city (_burh_) to the keeping of Ethelred the ealdorman." _A.-S. C._, 886. The word used for London is _Londonburh_. Asser says: "Londoniam civitatem honorifice restauravit et habitabilem fecit," p. 489. [28] Birch's _Cartularium_, ii., 220, 221. [29] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 878, 893, 896. According to Henry of Huntingdon, the work on the Lea was the splitting of that river into two channels; but I am informed that no trace of such a division remains. [30] _Gesta Pontificum_, 186. See Appendix C. [31] Birch's _Cartularium_, ii., 222; Kemble's _Codex Diplomaticus_, v., 142. [32] He signs a charter in 889 as "subregulus et patricius Merciorum," Kemble's _Codex Diplomaticus_. See Freeman, _N. C._, i., 564; and Plummer, _A.-S. C._, i., 118. [33] The dates in this chapter are taken from Florence of Worcester, who is generally believed to have used a more correct copy of the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ than those which have come down to us. [34] See Appendix B. [35] _A.-S. C._, 910, 911. [36] _New English Dictionary_, Borough.