Human activity on the site of the town dates back to the Neolithic, when a
settlement may have been established. From the 6th century onwards,
Warwick has been continuously inhabited. According to the Anglo Saxon
Chronicle, in the year 914 Anglo Saxon Ethelfleda Lady of the Mercians,
daughter of king Alfred the Great and sister of king Edward the Elder of
Wessex, built a burh or fortified dwelling at Warwick. It was one of ten burhs
built to defend the kingdom of Mercia against the Danes. Warwick was chosen as
the site for one of these fortifications because of its proximity to the
important transport routes of
