A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE occupied by Goidels. There is however so far nothing to show either the extent or the duration of that occupation. Fig. b shows how large an area of the county has as yet given no sign of Goidel occupation, as well as how closely the Goidel followed in the lines of the Neolithic settlement. The Iron Age The Goidels in their turn were displaced and driven over the Severn by a new set of invaders. As the Goidels expelled the Neolithic men, so the Brythons, as the new comers were called, expelled the Goidels. They had the advantage over the Goidels that they used iron for their implements and weapons, and it was probably due to this superiority of their weapons that they drove out the Goidels, as the latter by their better weapons had driven out their predecessors. The Brythons have left very clear traces of their occupation of the county, which, whatever may have been the date of its commencement, lasted to the time of the Roman Conquest. They were probably a far more civilized race than any of those who preceded them ; not only had they weapons and implements, but also personal ornaments. One of these, a bronze torque, was found at a depth of about 2 feet in a gravel pit at Perdeswell near Worcester. ' It is curved, forming nearly a semicircle, and composed of twenty small pieces of bronze curiously twisted and tooled, each alter- nating with pieces finished like a small pulley strung upon a small iron wire ; the whole strongly encrusted with highly polished patina.' ^ Another ornament, an armlet, said to be of this period, was found at Stoke Prior, which is of interest as showing that the finds of this age are not confined to the river valleys and the overlooking hills. Stoke Prior being in the centre of the county. Broadway, almost in Gloucestershire, also supplies a sword of this period ; in fact in this age the finds become of less importance for the occupation of the district is better evidenced by the earthworks (see fig. c). Earthworks The earthworks are not numerous, the majority being camps or forts. There is considerable doubt as to the precise period to which they belong. None of them has ever, as far as is known, been properly investigated, nor have discoveries of weapons or implements furnishing evidence of the time of their construction been found in connection with them. The following accounts must therefore be taken as only provisional. (i) Wychbury (fig. i), in the north of the county on an outlying hill above Pedmore and Hagley, overlooking the Stour valley and what was afterwards Pensett Chase, is a large fort, heart shaped in outline, with a double rampart on the south and an entrance to the south-east. It has been called a Danish camp and a Roman camp, but it seems more probable that it was originally of the British period. Except Bredon, Wychbury is the only camp now known to the east of the Severn ; it
- Archceologia, xxx. 554.
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