Complex sentence: Ethelwald, according to Bede, practically forced on Cedd a gift of land: a wild place at Lastingham, near Pickering in the North York Moors, close to one of the still-usable Roman roads.
Split into simpler sentences: Ethelwald, according to Bede, practically forced a gift of land on Cedd. This wild place was at Lastingham, near Pickering in the North York Moors, close to one of the still-usable Roman roads.