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ALFRED, KING OF NORTHUMBRIA.<br />

From a booklet publishedby Mr. Thomas Holderness,<br />

and which is a curious speculative account, elaborate in<br />

details which are plausible to perfection, of Alfred's<br />

funeral, we gather much interestinginformation.<br />

Those Northumbrian kings, who were lords both of<br />

Bernicia and Deira, held their chief court and Witenagemot<br />

(or Council of Wise Men) at York, and an inferior<br />

residentialcourt in Deira, with a Witenagemot here also<br />

for the transactionof the districtaffairs. The site of this<br />

East Riding Court was calledDerrifield by the vulgar —<br />

Deira-feld by the more cultivated; that is, the Field of<br />

Deira, or the Field of the King of Deira — our present<br />

Driffield. This castle or centre of Government was<br />

situated not far from the old Roman road from York to<br />

Filey,and had at some time (probablythe period of which<br />

we deal) a large population,as the numerous tumuli or<br />

burial mounds testify. In addition to the Royal Castle<br />

or mansion, there were also the church and the Mot<br />

House, where the local Parliament met to enact the laws<br />

of Deira. The Castle and the Mot House were one at<br />

each side of, though at some little distance from, ahill,<br />

known as the MotHill, where upon occasions when the<br />

people were to be addressed the Council walked in procession,<br />

and from the summit harangued the populace.<br />

The cottages which formed the village werebuilt of mud<br />

and stones, and thatched. The doors were roughly<br />

battened together, and secured by wooden pegs, as was<br />

the case with all the woodwork for long ages subsequent<br />

to this period. All were one storey high. The castle<br />

itself was a large structure, consisting of many heterogeneous<br />

buildings, erected upon a square mound,<br />

surrounded by a walled fosse, while on the inner side<br />

of the fosse rose a wallsome twelve feet high. In this<br />

seemingly impregnable stronghold stood the Royal<br />

Palace, approachable on the north side only by a<br />

massive gateway, with a drawbridge. In the midst of<br />

the group of buildings was the keep, a stupendous<br />

structure of stone four storeys high. Outside of the<br />

5

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