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AN INQUIRY AFTER THE SITE OF
inclines to the right, so as to be completely concealed behind the uplands on the southern, or Sussex, bank. It is therefore submitted to any unprejudiced judgment, whether the passage we have been discussing is not a tolerably conclusive argument against the soundness of the opinion, which has been maintained by Camden and his followers.[1]
Our next object is to inquire upon what grounds Pevensey is considered the site of Andredesceaster; to which the first and most obvious answer is, that the place displays strong proof of having been formerly an important Roman fortress. Of the walls not "merely detached fragments exist, but throughout the circumference the greater portion is yet standing, generally
- ↑ Since the above was written I have met with a suggestion, which, if admitted, and it appears entitled to at least some consideration, will decide the question now before us. The subjoined quotation attributes to Newenden an ancient settlement, which has been supposed (merely from conjecture) to belong to Sussex. Very possibly Baxter may be correct, since in the original record the name follows Anderesio (Anderida) and immediately precedes Lemanis and other Kentish towns, this connection being the only clue to its situation. Moreover we have, I contend, sufficient evidence, that defensive works of importance have existed within the parish of Newenden. "Mantantonis: Levi mendo in Anonymo libro Mutuantonis legitur, et in Vaticano Mantuantonis, nullo cum Etymo; cum Mant et Ment Britannis sit Os vel Ostium, et An ton isc Tenti fluminis. Ista civitas olim de Britannorum nomine Brittenden sive Britannodunum appellata est; postero vero tempore de novis incolis Newenden sive Noviodunum. Sita est ad Odaram flumen, quod Britannico vocabulo Rother dicitur, verum vitiose pro er odar, vel hodiernâ loquelâ Yr odr quod est Limes; cum veteribus diceretur Antona. Hic fluvius Regnos sive Rencos a Cantiis dividebat. Oportuit hæc omnia nescisse Camdenum.—Mantantonis. By an easy blunder it is read Mutuantonis in the anonymous book [of Ravenna], and in the Vatican [copy] Mantuantonis, with no derivation; since Mant and Ment is to the Britons mouth or entrance, and An ton isc of a river stretching outwards. This city formerly was called Brittenden or Britannodunum, from the name of the Britons; but subsequently Newenden or Noviodunum from new inhabitants. It is situated on the river Odara, which in British is called Rother, but corruptly for Er odar, or in modem language Yr odr, which is Boundary; when the ancients would have said Antona. This river divided the Regni or Renci [men of Sussex] from the Cantii [men of Kent]. Camden must have been ignorant of all this." (Glossarium Antiquitatum Britannicarum, Autore Willielmo Baxter, Cornavio, 8vo, London, 1719, p. 168). Of Baxter's etymology others must judge, but the meaning he assigns to the name of Mantantonis agrees most precisely with the locality of the old site at Newenden, and it is not very probable that a native of Shropshire could have been quite aware of the accuracy of the correspondence. The Rother does indeed divide the counties of Kent and Sussex, but for a short distance only. When in very early times the river turned to the left, immediately eastward of Newenden, toward Apledore and Limme, it could have formed the boundary only for a very few miles, unless the limit of Sussex was different then (as probably it was) from what it has now been for many centuries. Since the river deserted its old channel to run on the southern side of the Isle of Oxney, it has been deemed to separate the two counties till it enters the Marsh, but before reaching the town of Rye, and thence to the sea^ it is entirely within the county of Sussex, which is likewise the case with regard to its upper course from two miles, or less, above Newenden to its source.
