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Pre-Christian
Times
Conversions to Christianity
A dark time in Northumbria
During the period of the Romans, the area of the country north of Yorkshire was never settled by them. It was an area of intermittent warfare. The Romans used the native people in S.E. Scotland (the Votadini) as a buffer against the fierce tribes from further north. The main settlement of the Votadini was on Dunpender (Traprain Law), a whale-backed hill between Haddington and East Linton.
After the Romans abandoned our islands, the native Britons had a bad time coping with various invading groups. The Irish tried to push into Wales. The king of the Votadini, Cunedda, took his warriors west to help his brother Britons. This weakened the defences of his home area. It was now easy for the invaders who had in 547 established themselves on Bamburgh Rock (a little south of Berwick-upon-Tweed) to spread into Votadini territory. By about 600 the settlements of these invaders included Dunbar and Whitekirk. They were called Angles as they had come from the area of Angeln in southern Denmark.