that they fled into the interior of the country, to secure their lives and moveable property, And it might be, when Grymsby was thus deserted, from dread of his savage countrymen, that Gryme, the Dane, took possession of the town, in the name of his own monarch, which was hence considered as Danish property, and suffered to remain unmolested; while the whole country of Lindesey was reduced to ruin and desolation. The adjoining village of Tetney was, at this time, ravaged by these infuriate invaders; the inhabitants cruelly put to the sword, and their bodies buried in an open space in the centre of the village; for it was only by murder and spoliation that a Dane could raise himself to eminence amongst his countrymen; and hence the most hardened and consummate barbarian was alone deemed capable of leading armies, or conducting a piratical expedition.

But Peter Langtoft invests Grymsby with great consequence before the time of Gryme. He pronounces it, by name, a frontier town-and the boundary of a kingdom erected by the conquests of Egbert; including all that portion of the island which lay between "the maritime towns of Grymsby and Dover."* These places were the Dan and Bethel of this monarch-and I doubt not were both of peculiar strength as well as sanctity.

This authority sets the question at rest respecting

* Chron. p. 15.

f

Grymsby being founded either by Gryme the fisherman, or Grimus the pirate; for the kingdoms of the Heptarchy were united under Egbert, in the year 827, more than forty years before the former flourished. Gryme came into England, as is supposed, during the reign of Ethelbert, about A. D. 870; and Egbert, as we have seen, constituted Grymsby, then of course existing, into a frontier town of his extended dominions, in the year 827.1

GRYMSBY PEOPLED BY THE ANCIENT BRITONS-REMAINS OF THAT PEOPLE-A BRITISH TOWN-THE SEVEN HILLS ON WHICH ANCIENT GRYMSBY WAS CONSTRUCTED -SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION USED BY THE INHABITANTS ORIGINAL MAGNITUDE OF THE SEVEN HILLS-DESCRIPTION AND EXTENT OF GRYMSBY AT THIS PERIOD.

FROM the reasoning in the preceding chapter, it is evident, that the first population of Grymsby is totally unconnected with the history of Gryme, and preceded him by many hundred years. And this claim to a very high antiquity is fully corroborated by existing monuments. These consist of high hills and tumuli; the former placed in such situations as tended most effectually to answer the purpose for which they were erected whether it were civil, military, or religious; and in what place soever the latter are found, there we may be almost certain the Britons were settled; for the Romans threw up few sepulchral mounds,* except those of enormous

Hoare Wiltshire.

size, which were sometimes raised over the bodies of the slain, after a bloody battle, because they were acquainted with a more magnificent method of honouring their illustrious dead. And the Saxons and Danes did not at any time enjoy sufficient peace and security, to afford them leisure to throw up the gigantic elevations for residence, which are frequently found amidst extensive morasses, in different parts of this kingdom. If therefore we find such mounds, connected with tumuli, in the neighbourhood of Grymsby, it may be safely concluded that this was a British settlement. Be it my province to shew that such primitive monuments do exist around us to this day, in almost all their varieties.

We learn from Tacitus,* that, at the time of the Roman invasion, the tides in this country forced their way amidst hills and mountains, so as absolutely to form bays and islands for several miles in land. To no place can this observation of the Roman historian apply with more propriety than to Grymsby. It is well known that the influx of waters brought by the tide into the two havens, which were situated on the east and west of modern Grymsby, overflowed the adjacent low lands, and, passing by Holm and Abbey Hills, covered the east marshes on the one side, and the west marshes, Saltings, and part of the common fields on the other, leaving only a certain portion of the natural land dry

T

* Vit. Agric. 10.

in the centre, which was used by the early inhabitants as a pasture for cattle. The waters, being now separated only by a narrow neck of land, after proceeding about two miles from their respective estuaries, united their streams at a central flood-gate, which, forming the only entrance into the place by land, was carefully fortified, and provided with the means of defence; and hence it afterwards received the appropriate appellation of The BAR. The inhabited part of the town was situated on several small islands, which were thrown up for the evident purpose of affording a secure place of residence, unexposed to the casualties which might have deluged their tents: with water at certain seasons of the year, when the tides rose much higher than usual, and have driven them, perhaps at dead of night, to seek a new settlement; a measure not unattended with risk-and perhaps, scarcely to be accomplished without loss of life or property.

A British town is said, by Cæsar, to consist of rude,circular huts, surrounded with loose stones, and having roofs formed of twisted boughs of trees, covered with turf. These were usually situated in the centre of a thick wood, fortified with a ditch and rampart. We are told by other authors, that the Britons frequently resided in the midst of fenny marshes. Herodian relates that the Britons resided in fens, and that they would run up to their waist in mud, without suffering any inconvenience; and hence they discarded dress, and painted or tattooed