 The earliest recorded historical fact relating to the county is the occupation of the district between Wallingford and Ashbury by Offa in 758.In the 9th and 10th centuries the county was greatly impoverished by the ravages of the Danes, and in 871 the invaders were defeated by Æthelwulf at Englefield and again at Reading.During the anarchy of Stephen's reign Wallingford was garrisoned for Matilda and was the scene of the final treaty in 1153.