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 A HISTORY OF RUTLAND bridgeshire and the north-eastern part of Northamptonshire ; '* and there is some archaeological warrant for connecting together the two latter areas,*' but further discoveries alone can make clear their relation to Rutland. The Roman road from Stamford through the north-east of the county, with possibly a branch towards the Trent, would have given easy access from the north or south. From which quarter the Anglians actually arrived cannot as yet be determined, but it seems clear that they were in possession before the efforts of Oswiu resulted in the conversion of the Midlands to the new faith. After that date cremation cannot well have been practised, and few if any relics would be recovered from graves, even if the latter were still in the open country and not confined to the consecrated and inviolable ground of the churchyard. " A. J. Ellis, Engfuh Dialects, their Sounds and Homes, 58 and map. ^ r.C.H. Northants, i, 251. io6