Sir,—I am afraid I am unconvinced. Mr. Crawford says: “The facts are: That the Celtic fields belong to the Celtic village (both upland), that these villages came to an abrupt end when the Romans left, and that the Saxons instituted the first (still existing) valley villages. These “facts” are Mr. Crawford’s inferences. The facts revealed by the air maps and the scanty historical evidence are consistent with the deforestation of the valleys either in Roman times or in the early days of the Saxons. In the absence of definite proof for either interpretation it seems more reasonable to suppose that the transition from the earlier conditions to the cultivation of the lowlands and the devotion of the downs to grazing occurred in the period of agrarian prosperity during the Roman occupation, when both grain and wool were exported to the Continent and millstones imported from the Eifel.
This would seem to be the more probable conclusion, even if the extreme Teutonic view be accepted that the whole of the
cultivators, supervisors and serfs alike, were exterminated or swept away by the invaders.—Yours, etc.,
John W. Evans.
The Athenæum, July 23, 1923.
Source info: Found in library.