First 500 Years

      Five hundred years seems a good amount of time to get things worked out for the family. My Celtic ancestors needed to arrive (sea travel), select and settle, manage all things pertaining to survival, and to keep the home fires burning. Families grew, and fought, and loved all along the way. The Vale of Clwyd, and the Vale of Dee seemed to be their primary focus. During this time, two family groups matured into the Deceangli and the Cornovii as they were first identified by the writers of their history known as "The Romans".  The strategic land bridge that geographically provided the only road from the lowlands to the highlands, and the only way back again from the highlands to the lowlands (called transhumance), was shared between these family groups. It would seem that the best way to generate this tribal cooperation would be by marriage. (Not the Romeo and Juliet type, but more likely the fourth or fifth cousin type.)

      To bring the mental images back to mind are two figures shown in prior posts. The first is the drawing of the Celtic tribes and how they are related to the land bridge and, Old Oswestry hillfort. Note again Old Oswestry's position to the tribes and the land bridge.

      The second is my drawing of the satellite image showing the relationship of the western facing rectangular shaped structures to the entrance and exit of the hillfort. These are thought to be completed before 100 A.D. It is my concept that these structures were used for sheep shearing during seasonal activities of the two tribes working together. 

      Now the next 500 years, a different story yet to be told.