n city seems
now to have failed altogether. For example, Baeda mentions a certain
town called Tiowulfinga ceaster--that is to say, the Chester of the
Tiowulfings, or sons of Tiowulf. Here an English clan would seem to
have taken up its abode in a ruined Roman station, and to have called
the place by the clan-name--a rare or almost unparalleled case. But its
precise site is now unknown. However, Baeda's description clearly points
to some town in Nottinghamshire, situated on the Trent; for St.
Paulinus of York baptized large numbers of converts in that river at
Tiowulfinga ceaster; and the site may therefore be confidently
identified with Southwell, where St. Mary's Minster has always
traditionally claimed Paulinus as its founder. Baeda also mentions a
place called Tunna ceaster, so named from an abbot Tunna, who exists
merely for the sake of a legend, and is clearly as unhistorical as his
piratical compeer Hrof--a wild guess of the eponymic sort with which we
are all so familiar in Greek literature. Simeon of Durham speaks of an
equally unknown Delvercester. Syddena ceaster or Sidna cester--the
earliest see of the Lincolnshire diocese--has likewise dropped out of
human memory; though Mr. Pearson suggests that it may be identical with
Ancaster--a notion which appears to me extremely unlikely. Wude cester
is no doubt Outchester, and other doubtful instances might easily be
recognised by local antiquaries, though they may readily escape the
general archaeologist. In one case at least--that of Othonae in
Essex--town, site, and name have all disappeared together. Baeda calls
it Ythan ceaster, and in his time it was the seat of a monastery
founded by St. Cedd; but the whole place has long since been swept away
by an inundation of the Blackwater. Anderida, which is called
Andredes-ceaster in the _Chronicle_, becomes Pefenesea, or Pevensey,
before the date of the Norman Conquest.

It must not be supposed that the list given here is by any means
exhaustive of all the Casters and Chesters, past and present,
throughout the whole length and breadth of Britain. On the contrary,
many more might easily be added, such as Ribbel ceaster, now
Ribchester; Berne ceaster, now Bicester; and Blaedbyrig ceaster, now
simply Bladbury. In Northumberland alone there are a large number of
instances which I might have quoted, such as Rutchester, Halton
Chesters, and Little Chesters on the Roman Wall, together with
Hetchester, Holy Chesters, and Roch