Ancient Britons

This name is given to all the inhabitants of our islands at the time of the Roman conquest, but they were of many tribes and cultures. Little is known of tribal organisation upon the Plateau. Westward were the Cornovii about their Wrekin stronghold, and to the east the Coritani. The Dobunni were quite as far away to the south. Our region, so far from any tribal capital, was a no-man's-land, then as later a refuge for independents and escaped slaves, little known and less valued.

There were sites of occupation not far from here, but we cannot say by whom they were peopled. Wychbury Hill north of Clent is crowned by a hill-fort of massive earthworks, and Berry Mound in Solihull Lodge is an 11-acre fortified camp with banks and water defences. These great structures were not the work of a few or ill--organised folk : but compared with southern England, our region in prehistoric times was very sparsely peopled. It was to remain so until the early Middle Ages, because of its distance from the sea and navigable rivers, and its isolation within daunting oak jungle.