The Anglo-Saxons built the first settlement. Wallingford has been fortified since the Anglo-Saxon period when it was an important fortified borough of Wessex with the right to mint royal coinage. It was enclosed with substantial earthworks by King Alfred the Great in the ninth century as part of a network of fortified towns known as burhs, or burghs, to protect Wessex against the Vikings. These defences can still be clearly discerned as a group of four roughly square areas around the centre of the town and are well-preserved. Wallingford became the chief town of Berkshire and the seat of the county’s Ealdorman. During the Norman conquest in 1066, the Anglo-Saxon lord Wigod allowed William the Conqueror’s invading armies into Wallingford to rest and to cross the Thames unopposed. It is in Wallingford that Stigand the Archbishopric of Canterbury surrendered and submitted to William thereby all but ending opposition to William’s ascent to the throne. From Wallingford, William with Stigand and his armies rode east to Berkhamsted where he received the final surrender from Edgar and the rest of the English leadership before marching on London for his coronation on Christmas Day. At that time, the river at Wallingford was the lowest point at which the river could be forded. The town subsequently stood in high favour with the Normans. The Domesday Book of 1085 lists Wallingford as one of only 18 towns in the kingdom with a population of over 2,000 people.