From this time therefore the character of the English conquest of Britain changes.

The warfare of Briton and Englishman died down into a warfare of separate English kingdoms against separate British kingdoms, of Northumbria against the Cumbrians and Strathclyde, of Mercia against the Welsh between Anglesea and the British Channel, of Wessex against the tract of country from Mendip to the Land's End.

But great as was the importance of the battle of Chester to the fortunes of Britain, it was of still greater importance to the fortunes of England itself.

The drift towards national unity had already begun, but from the moment of AEthelfrith's victory this drift became the main current of our history.

Masters of the larger and richer part of the land, its conquerors were no longer drawn greedily westward by the hope of plunder; while the severance of the British kingdoms took from their enemies the pressure of a common danger.