to observe how completely Celtic names have disappeared from the neighbourhood. Even the rivers, the first to receive and the last to change their names—the Wey, the Wandle, and the Mole—are Saxon, as are the names of Guildford, the chief town of the county and district, Farnham, the ancient episcopal seat, and the villages about them.
Neither are there any very decided marks of Roman occupation in Guildford, The Castle Hill at Hescomb, Hilbury in Puttenham, and Holmbury in Ockley, are said to be rectangular, and therefore Roman earthworks; but neither of the two great Roman roads from the south passes through Guildford. The Watling Street leads from Canterbury by Rochester to Southwark, and the Icknild Street, from Chichester, takes the pass of Mickleham in its way to the same destination. It is very curious that a town so remarkable in position, so strongly posted, and so directly in the way from the south-west to London, and withal so sheltered, and placed close to pastures so fertile, should exhibit no marks of occupation by the Romans, or the earlier or later Britons.
The early history of Guildford, like its name, is Saxon, and, like its name, savours wholly of the arts of peace. Of the "guild," or mercantile community, which in early times must have been established on the "Ford" of the Wey, nothing is recorded; but from the lingering presence of such names as Burgh Road, Burgh Field, and the Bury, it has been supposed that the earliest Saxon municipality was seated on the west, and not, as now, on the east bank of the river. It has been said that the cause of this was the establishment of the fortress on the east bank, and the consequent want of Space for private dwellings. But the fact is probably just the reverse. A fortress, whether Saxon or Norman, would, as a rule, attract inhabitants to place themselves under its protection; and however spacious may have been the area enclosed—and a little under six acres is the very utmost that has ever been assigned to it,—there must always have been ample room between the walls and the river to the north, where the present town is located. If ever the town stood upon the west bank, the balance of probability is in favour of its having been transferred across the stream as soon as the Saxon hold was established there.
