A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE penetrated across Herefordshire into the territory of the Ordovices, whose southern boundary is thought to have lain between the Wye and the Teme, and brought to subjection the native prince Caradoc or Caractacus after a fierce battle. The site of that battle has been the subject of much natural, if futile, conjecture. Without venturing to provoke criticism by urging the claims of any particular spot as its site, we may, with Merivale, admit the possibility of its having taken place within the bounds of Herefordshire. The locality which has been thought to suit the description of Tacitus is Coxall Knoll near Brampton Bryan, on the borders of, and partly within, Shropshire.* The region which to us represents the county of Hereford lies midway between the midland plains and the highlands of South Wales. Professor Haverfield has pointed out ^ that its geographical position and internal con- figuration have had much influence on its early fortunes, it being by position the borderland of the lowland and upland districts. Even before the Roman conquest it formed the frontier between British tribes, the Gloucestershire Dobuni on the one hand and the Welsh Silures and Ordovices on the other ; and in later times it became the limit of the English advance into Wales. At the time of the Roman occupation it was, with the exception of the Wye valley and the mining district in the south, distinctly unfitted to become a residential district. The greater part was a wide waste of uncultivated forest, while on the western border the natural features formed admirable defences for the native Britons. There were in fact few attractions for settlers, and remains of the Roman period are chiefly found in two portions, the remainder of the county having been thinly inhabited and imperfectly developed. The Wye valley, from its luxurious character, was by nature exceptionally prolific, and moreover was not occupied to any great extent by British entrenchments ; while the mining district about Ross, from the wealth afforded by the iron, would at least provide a subsistence for those who occupied it. Moreover, both these districts were well removed from the line of the higher hills which now form the western border, and not only remote from those hills, but also from most of the British strongholds, which must have offered a menace to any foe attempting to occupy this part of the country. The physical features of the district are of interest, as sharing the nature of the two great divisions of Britain, the distinctive importance of which has been more than once pointed out by Professor Haverfield. The eastern part of the county may be said to belong to the Lowlands of Britain, being devoid of any great height (except the Malvern Hills along its edge), and in parts descending to quite a low level, especially in the Wye valley. The western half, on the other hand, is throughout hilly in character, and may be said to form part of the Highlands ; on its confines it is shut in by a natural border of mountains which in some parts attain a height of 2,000 ft. to 2,500 ft. Thus as a natural consequence the Romans avoided the western districts, and chose for the site of their principal road a way through the middle part of the county, where the general level varies from 200 ft. to 400 ft. above the sea. ' The internal configuration of the county has affected its
- Merivale, Hist, of the Rom. under the Empire, v'l, 242 ; see also Arch. Cambr. (Ser. 2), ii, 45 ; Duncumb,
Hist. ofHerefs. i, 14 ; Woolhope Club Trans. 1881, p. 182 ; Roy, Mintary Antiq. p]. 40, p. 171 ; 'Hartshorne) Salopia Antiqua, 49 fF. ' Arch. Surv. ofHerefs. (1896), 2. 168
