Abstract for

INVADERS AND SETTLERS: ROMANS AND SAXONS IN FARNHAM.

 

Dr Christopher Herbert’s ‘Invaders and Settlers: Romans and Saxons in Farnham’ provides a new and up-to-date narrative about the Farnham area in Roman and Saxon times. The author explores the evidence of Roman occupation that is found locally. He links the work of Roman-era potters based in Alice Holt with pre-Christian Temples at Wanborough and Farley Heath, near Albury, and speculates about the trade-routes along which pots from Alice Holt and Farnham were distributed to places as far afield as London and the South Coast.

 

 

He then moves to the Saxon period. He explores the implications of the charter by which 60 hides of land at Farnham was granted to the church by Caedwalla, King of Wessex in 688. He explores the likely development of a Minster in Farnham and explores the pivotal role that this Minster may have played in creating Farnham as a ‘place’ with a distinct identity. In this the author provides a new and intriguing perspective.

 

The book is written in an elegant and engaging style with which readers of earlier volumes by the author will be acquainted. It is beautifully illustrated with full-colour plates.