Page:VCH Northamptonshire 1.djvu/293

 ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS THE meagre entries of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that describe the over-running of Britain by the EngHsh afford no clue to the early history of Northamptonshire ; and as in the case of most other counties, recourse must be had to the actual remains recovered from the soil in order to determine the condition of the district and its inhabitants in the years when Roman Britain was passing gradually into a Christian England. The lack of record or tradition may be remedied to some extent by a careful analysis of place-names, by a classi- fication of the dialects still to be met with in the county, and by observing the physical characteristics of the population. Each of these three methods of inquiry is however open to the objection that changes from within and without during many centuries must have done much to obscure or obliterate the traces of the earliest Teutonic settlers ; while the investigation of their graves furnishes a certain amount of infor- mation, slight it may be but direct, regarding the pagan peoples who mastered this outlying province of the Roman Empire. It must be admitted at the outset that such deductions rest upon a series of accidents, and that any day may bring fresh and conflicting evidence to light. But the value of every fresh discovery has a direct relation to the amount and nature of pre-existing material ; and in this way a collection and classification of archaeological details may be of service not only to the excavator, but to the professed historian. Much has undoubtedly been lost in the past through lack of interest or super- vision, but there is no reason to suppose that all the early Anglo-Saxon sites have been discovered or that those already known have been exhaustively examined ; and it is likely that the spread of local archaeo- logical societies will do something to prevent the destruction of objects that may demonstrate in course of time the character and nationality of the folk whose property these objects were some thirteen hundred years ago. A sketch of the condition of the county may be found in the chapter of the Making of England which deals with the conquests of the English. From what is there stated, it would be easy to conclude that the territory comprised in the present county was largely covered with forest, and on that account formed an impenetrable barrier against the various tribes that advanced from all directions to its borders. This 223