| The
Romans |
| The absence
of a major river outlet to the sea would account
for the absence of Liverpool itself in the
historical record before the Norman Conquest. The
Romans left neither mention of a usable estuary
here nor roads to one, although those of the Dee
to the south and the Ribble to the north were of
prime importance to them, as witnessed by the
important remains they left behind. There might
have been a significant earthquake round about
the fifth century (Formby is still an epicentre
for minor earthquakes) that was responsible for
widening what was before in all likelihood just a
stream, the rest being down to powerful tidal
action. |
| The local people at the
time of the Roman occupation (43 - 410 AD) were a
confederation of tribes known to the Romans as
the Brigantes. They managed to retain
their political identity through a period of
conflict until about 70 AD. |
| Although
there is no direct evidence that the Romans were
in Allerton or Mossley Hill, they may well have
been as they were certainly nearby at Aigburth
and Garston. In 1853 and 1855, sections of Roman
pavement, possibly part of a road leading to a
Mersey crossing point at Hale, were discovered at
Otterspool and Grassendale. Then in 1863 some
third century Roman coins were unearthed at
Otterspool and a second hoard nearby later the
same year during the construction of the Cheshire
Lines Railway. The nearest Roman town would have
been Warrington. |
|
| The
Anglo-Saxons |
| Following
the departure of the Romans by the 5th century,
Germanic peoples from the coastal regions of
north-western Europe, probably driven by
geographical changes caused by encroachment of
the sea, began to migrate to Britain. They became
known as Anglo-Saxons after two of their
regions of origin (Anglia and Lower Saxony) to
distinguish them from the native Celtic peoples,
the Britons. By the year 600, the
Britons still occupied the western part of the
country, but in 678 the north-west of England was
absorbed into the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of
Northumbria when the River Mersey was adopted as
its south-west boundary. |
| By the late
800s, Alfred the Great had become the dominant
ruler of an England where the Germanic and Celtic
peoples had largely intermingled and the common
language was Anglo-Saxon, also known as Old
English. The district of Wallasey on the
other side of the River Mersey from Allerton
means island of the strangers in
Anglo-Saxon, as the area may have been left to
the original Celtic people because of its
isolated position bounded by marshland and two
river outflows. The presence of Anglo-Saxon
culture in Allerton is attested by the name
itself, which means alder-tree settlement
in their language. It is also present in some
neighbouring districts: Aigburth - place of
oaks, Dingle - deep dell, Garston -
grassy settlement, Gateacre - possibly goat
field, Hale - a slope (also
Halewood), Oglet - oak tree by water,
Speke - possibly brushwood, Wavertree - wavering
tree and Woolton - Wulfa's settlement.
However, the names of several nearby places
betray their Celtic origins, for example, quoting
Welsh for comparison, Penketh - pen coed, wooded
top, Ince - ynys, island and
Liscard - coed llys, wooded court. |
|
| The
Vikings |
| Norse
expeditions had started by the beginning of the
8th century, but they really gathered pace after
the so-called unification of Norway in 872 under
King Harald I. Many wealthy and respected
chieftains posed a threat to Harald, who harassed
them until they left Norway. A large number
settled peacefully in the newly founded Viking
kingdom of Dublin and some became Christianised
by the native Irish. However they were expelled
from Ireland beginning in 902 by Cearbhall, King
of Leinster, and continuing until 1014 with the
Battle of Clontarf, near Dublin, under forces led
by Brian Boru, known as the High King of Ireland. |
| Many of the
Vikings from Ireland settled finally on the
Wirral peninsula and in the coastal regions of south-west
Lancashire, on poor
quality land largely uninhabited, and hence
undisputed by, the locals. Because of the local
geography, there were more Viking settlements in
Wirral and to the north of Liverpool than to the
south, but the names of two of Allerton's
neighbouring districts do have Viking origins:
Childwall - field with a spring and
Thingwall - assembly field. In
particular, Thingwall indicates a major meeting
point or parliament for the entire region and
suggests a significant concentration of people of
Scandinavian origin throughout the south
Liverpool area. |
|
