COLCHESTER.--This of course was a Roman site, and Edward needed only to restore the walls, as the _Chronicle_ indicates. Colchester was placed so as to defend the river Colne, just as Maldon defended the estuary of the Blackwater. As the repair of Colchester and the successful defence of Wigingamere were followed the same year by the submission of East Anglia, it seems not unlikely that Edward's various forces may have made a simultaneous advance, along the coast, and along the Roman road by the Fen country; but this of course is the merest conjecture, as the _Chronicle_ gives us no details of this very important event. CLEDEMUTHAN.--This place is only mentioned in the Abingdon MS. of the _Chronicle_, but the year 921 is the date given for its building. This date should probably be transposed to 918, the year in which, according to Florence, Edward subjugated East Anglia. It is well known how confused the chronology of the various versions of the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ is during the reign of Edward the Elder.[105] Cley, in Norfolk, would be etymologically deducible from Clede (the _d_ being frequently dropped, especially in Scandinavian districts), and the _muthan_ points to some river estuary. Cley is one of the few havens on the north coast of Norfolk, and its importance in former times was much greater than now, as is shown not only by the spaciousness of its Early English church, but by the fact that the port has jurisdiction for 30 miles along the coast.[106] It would be highly probable that Edward completed the subjugation of East Anglia by planting a borough at some important point. But as the real date of the fortification of Cledemuthan is uncertain, we must be content to leave this matter in abeyance.[107] STAMFORD is another case where the _borough_ is clearly said to have been on the side which is opposite to the one where the Norman castle stands. Edward's borough was on the south side, the motte and other remains of the Norman castle are on the north of the Welland. It is remarkable that the part of Stamford on the south side of the Welland is still a distinct liberty; it is mentioned in Domesday as the sixth ward of the borough. The line of the earthworks can still be traced in parts. The borough on the north side of the Welland was probably first walled in by the Danes, as it was one of the Five Boroughs--Stamford, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, and Derby--which appear to have formed an independent or semi-independent state in middle England.[108] Stamford is a borough in Domesday.