Reading, Berkshire from the "Readingas", an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means "Reada's People" in Old English, or less probably the Celtic "Rhydd-Inge", meaning "Ford over the River". In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex and set up camp at Reading. On 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences. The battle is described in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", and that account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when
The common land and commoners of Ashdown Forest south-east England. The common land of Ashdown Forest consists of specific areas of Forest, registered under the Commons Registration Act 1965, which only those who possess particular rights of common — commoners — are entitled to use and exploit in certain specified ways. The common land is owned by the Lord of the Manor of Duddleswell (which, since 1988, has been the Ashdown Forest Trust, an agent of East Sussex County Council). Since 1885, the common land has been regulated and protected by a statutory Board of Conservators. The distribution of common land around Ashdown Forest is very fragmented. This