According to archaeological evidence, Caer Ceri continued as a
centre for civic life in the 440s; the defences were repaired,
flood prevention work was carried out on one of the gates, and
the piazza of the forum was kept clean. But in 443 the whole
Roman world was swept by a plague, the severity of which has
been compared to the Black Death, and this hit Britain in around
446. At the same time as the Anglo-Saxon mercenaries in the east
revolted, unburied bodies were to be found in Caer Ceri's
streets, and the town seems to have contracted to some small
wooden huts inside the amphitheatre. The Romano-British must
have recovered from the mid-century plague. The next major event
for the territory was Ælle's attack on Mons Badonicus in circa
496. The route the Saxon forces took was probably westwards
along the upper Valley and through the Goring Gap. It seems
creditable to assume that the north-facing Wansdyke, constructed
in the fifth or sixth centuries (and which roughly follows in
part the proposed upper sect