Old Kingdom of Elmet

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The subscribers' edition being almost exhausted, it becomes a pleasure to respond to the call of a larger public for an account of one of the most interesting of the ancient petty states into which the county of York was originally divided. The information cannot be culled from any existing work. From Bede's time onwards every writer has trodden in the beaten track of his predecessors, without attempting to uuveil the mystery and silence enshrouding the Kingdom. The material to be relied upou with absolute certainty is scanty indeed, yet the theme is one of absorbing interest. In its place-names is fixed, for all time, the memory of a people-the Celts-whose principality was Elmet: centuries before any historic record, the wooded wolds of Elmet were the stronghold of a dominant or ruling class. Probably it will be the means of exploding a fallacy which I have heard repeatedly expressed, viz.: that all the historic records concerning this Kingdom could be told on a sheet of note-paper! Possibly some future writer may endeavour to complete the work of restoring Elmet to its ancient dignity in history -that of an independent state retaining its integrity long after others had fallen under the iron heel of the Invader.<br><br>To be brief, the writer offers his thanks to all who have assisted him in any way, either with pen or pencil.