Historic%20Yorkshire
Historic%20Yorkshire
Historic%20Yorkshire
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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 />
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