THE MATTER OF BRITAIN: - damowords

existence. Let us then begin with his main rivals, the Saxons,
whose Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (ASC) for the year 501 tells us;
This year Porta and his two sons, Beda and Mela, came into Britain, with two
ships, at a place called Portsmouth. They soon landed, and slew on the spot
a young Briton of very high rank.
Could this be the same battle as the one fought by the HB’s River
Glein? Evidently it is, indeed there is an immediate connection,
for both accounts contain the word ‘mouth’ – ‘the mouth of the
river’ & ‘Ports-mouth.’ This would mean that the River Glein is the
modern day River Itchen, whose waterway flows through the city
of Winchester to join the Southampton Water. At the very place
where it enters the Solent there stands the Roman citadel of
Portchester (Portus Adurni), the greatest example of a Roman
Sea-fortress in the world, defending Britain’s best harbour at the
ASC’s very own Portsmouth!
Ekwall, in his English River Names (1828), says that the word
Glein derives from the Welsh glano-, meaning holy. Closer to this
is Henry of Hungdon's name for the battle - Gleno. JM MacKinlay
states, ‘In ancient times water was deified by civilised nations like
the Greeks and Romans,’ * & even today, in India, the River
Ganges is worshipped as a god. IA Richards, in his Roman Britain
(1955), tells us;
Rivers frequently bore divine names, such as Belisama (the Ribble), Deva
(the Dee), or Brigantia (the Brent)
There is evidence that a Celtic goddess called Ancasta was
associated with the river Itchen. She is known soley from a single
inscription found at Bitterne, near Southampton, which reads
DEAE ANCASTAE GEMINVS MANI VSLM
To the goddess Ancasta, Geminus Mani[lius]
willingly and deservedly fulfills his vow