The burh wall at Wallingford

A Burh is an Anglo-Saxon name for a fortified town or other defended site, such as a hill fort. The boundaries of ancient burhs can often still be traced to modern urban borough limits. A 10th century document called the Burghal Hidage cites 33 burhs in Wessex, built to defend the region against Viking raids. Most of these were founded by Alfred the Great, some based on pre-existing Roman structures, some newly built, though some may have been built later. Athelstan granted these burhs the right to mint coinage. The largest were at Winchester, Wallingford and Warwick, and Wallingford and Wareham are the best preserved examples, with substantial ditches and banks still visible. It has been estimated that construction of Wallingford's 9,000 feet of bank would have taken more than 120,000 man hours, and have required 2,400 men to maintain. Burh towns also usually had regular street layouts, some of which are also preserved. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 2682 KB) Summary David Hemming Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2592x1944, 2682 KB) Summary David Hemming Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... The Anglo-Saxons refers collectively to the groups of Germanic tribes who achieved dominance in southern Britain from the mid-5th century, forming the basis for the modern English nation. ... The term hill fort is commonly used by archaeologists to describe fortified enclosures located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. ... Wessex was one of the seven major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (the Heptarchy) that preceded the Kingdom of England. ... Vikings were a Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish and Swedish people who lived around the coasts of Scandinavia and raided the coasts of Scandinavia, the British Isles, and other parts of Europe from the late 8th century to the 11th century. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Athelstan (c. ... Winchester is a historic city in southern England, with a population of around 40,000 within a 3 mile radius of its centre. ... Map sources for Wallingford at grid reference SU6089 Wallingford is a small town in Oxfordshire in southern England. ... Map sources for Warwick at grid reference SP2865 Warwick (pronounced warrick ) is the historic county town of Warwickshire in England and has a population of 25,434 (2001 census). ... Map sources for Wallingford at grid reference SU6089 Wallingford is a small town in Oxfordshire in southern England. ... Wareham is a historic market town in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. ...

see also: Burgh, Borough A sign in Linlithgow, Scotland. ... A borough is a local government administrative subdivision used in the Canadian province of Quebec, in some states of the United States, and formerly in New Zealand. ...