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This is YOUR page, open for comments, contributions, news, etc. Please Email any contributions for this page to cambridge_archaeologist@yahoo.co.uk. Put "Archaeology" in the title, otherwise it will be assumed to contain spam.Finds from Wilbraham
Can anybody identify the following finds discovered by metal detecting in the vicinity of a Romano British farm site in Wilbraham Cambridgeshire. Top left ring is Iron, Top right tablet is lead and about 5mm thick, bottom item is bronze and believed to be a Roman coin.
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Do you know where King Edmund died in 869 AD ?
Dr Rodney Scarle of Cambridge Archaeology Field Group presents this paper which proposes that Dernford in Cambridgeshire, Grid Reference 467 506 is the site. Let us hear your comments.
St. Edmund - His Battle with the Danes
This short paper is based on research undertaken by Matthew Champion, author and publisher (Timescape Publishing, Reepham, Norfolk), who proposed the most likely invasion route of the Danes into East Anglia. My own observations, subsequent correspondence with Matthew Champion in 1998-1999, use of tenuous scraps of evidence (for that is all the historical record provides) and the application of a basic logic result in this reconstruction of events in the Autumn of 869 AD, leading to the defeat, death and martyrdom of Edmund, King of the East Angles.
Danish War Bands: Probable Movements in 869-870 AD
The Danes move through Mercia (from Humberside and approximately along the route of the modern A15). They sack Peterborough and Crowland Abbey and move towards the East Angles.The most likely route was to skirt around the southern fringe of the Fens, sacking Ramsey Abbey on the way, and thence onto the Isle of Ely. From Ely, the Soham Causeway would allow the Danes to enter the Kingdom just to the north of Newmarket (or Exning which was then the main settlement). By taking this route , the defensive dykes of Cambridgeshire would have been avoided. Access to the Icknield Way would then have allowed easy movement to the stronghold of Thetford, where, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, they encamped for the winter.
Edmund's Encounters with the Danes
Where did Edmund and his army encounter the Danes?
History books state that Edmund met his end at Hoxne, which is in the middle of Suffolk. Hard evidence for this location has never been forthcoming. Hoxne was first declared as the place of his martyrdom several centuries after the event. Geographically it has very little going for it. Why should Edmund either have waited until the Danes had encroached so far into his kingdom or have retreated eastwards, from the Thetford area, away from greater safety to be found in the south or south-west? The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles treat the event in the briefest of paragraphs, shedding no light on the whereabouts of the battlefield or whether the Danes encountered Edmund before or after they reached Thetford.There are just three places actually named in early works relating to Edmund and his death.
- Abbo of Fleury, writing about one hundred years after the event and recounting the experiences of one of Edmund's men, states that the battle took place at Haegelisdun (meaning "enclosure on the hill"). Whilst historians have suggested some possible locations for Haegelisdun, hard evidence is again lacking.
- Bishop Hermann, writing several years after Abbo, identifies Suthtuna with Edmund. Suthtuna (or "south farm") is the place name "Sutton", which is fairly common in East Anglia.
- The Bury Tradition, dated to the fifteenth century, tells us in a matter-of-fact kind of way that the battle took place at Dernford. Unlike the rest of the tales in the Tradition, the Dernford story has always "felt" (so Matthew Champion considers) as though it belonged to an earlier tradition that was merely being retold without its location actually being understood.
Matthew Champion, in his book "The Hollow Crown", speculates that "Dernford" could be Lackford, where the Icknield Way crosses the River Lark on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Also, he has consulted with the archaeologist Dr. Stanley West. In Dr. West's theory, which attempts to fit all the early accounts, a defeated Edmund retires to the south in the direction of the Wessex controlled Kingdom of Essex. In the vicinity of Bradfield St. Clare, near Bury St. Edmunds, the King is captured and executed. This theory is based on the assumption that the major confrontations occurred near, or just to the east of, Thetford, such as at Lackford.
It was by chance that, in 1998, I realised there is a place called Dernford within the parish of Sawston, Cambridgeshire. It was the site of a Saxon manor and watermill. It has always been a remote site within the parish, situated some distance from the centre of settlement. Interestingly, Dernford is at a fording place of the River Cam and on a northern track of the Icknield Way. A local variation of the name is Danford (or Danfer), suggesting a possible Danish connection. Thus, Matthew Champion's speculation about Lackford seems incorrect.
The scant evidence has been pieced together and my theory is presented below. The conjecture may be somewhat fanciful, but hopefully thought provoking.
Edmund was forced to fight a defensive campaign against a superior force invading from the west. His first military actions take place at the very western edge of his kingdom on the Isle of Ely, and before the Danes reach the town of Ely itself. It is of note here that Sutton lies on an ancient trackway from Ramsey to Ely (reference Maynard's Map of British and Roman Roads in Cambridgeshire - 1852). Edmund's forces retreat to Ely. Ely is sacked. Possibly the Danish land army meets up with a naval force and a raiding party sails up the Cam to attack the monastery at Horningsea (reference "Archaeology of Cambridgeshire", Vol. 2 by A. Taylor). Edmund again retreats, crossing the Soham Causeway to higher, safer ground and is followed by the main band of Danes. In a desperate attempt at stopping the invaders sweeping into the Angle's heartland, further battles ensue in the vicinity of the Icknield Way. It is of note here that there is a Dane Hill Farm near Kennet, north of Newmarket. Could this just possibly be Haegelisdun? Edmund is defeated and retires hastily south-westwards along the Icknield Way, hoping to cross the Cam and thence to seek refuge in safer territory. At Dernford he is caught by a pursuing band of Danes and slain. Meanwhile, the main force of the Danes heads northwards to occupy a poorly defended Thetford.
In conclusion, Edmund fought a running battle with the Danes, involving strategic sites and routes in the west of the Kingdom and on its very borders. This may explain why the earliest texts are inconsistent regarding the battlefield site. More recent thinking on the subject, as outlined above, has concentrated on scenarios further away from the borders, involving sites in Suffolk and Norfolk; the possibility of actions in Cambridgeshire has apparently not been considered. The significance of Dernford should not be overlooked, for here we have the only place name which can be exactly located. In the context of ancient routeways of the Kingdom, the location itself is intriguing. It may be that the very inconsequence of Dernford from post-Saxon times onwards has kept it hidden from historians!
R.D. SCARLE
Comment on King Edmunds death site
My hobby is studying old ordnance survey maps and comparing them with the modern equivalents. With reference to St. Edmund-His Battle with the Danes on your web page. Hoxne has always been pronounced Horxen by locals in Suffolk and may have been much larger than it is today and it is possible that it is remembered with his death because he may have owned property there. Dernford, south of Cambridge could be the place of his death but because it is an out of the way place, perhaps his death and martyrdom were remembered as being at Hauxton, north east of Dernford. The land in this area is pretty high as in the meaning of the word Haegelisdun. Hauxton being similar in pronunciation as Hoxne and being that Edmund possibly held property in Hoxne or fought with Danish pirates coming up the river Waveny, in an earlier encounter, could have caused the misunderstanding. I think a lot may have to do with the different dialects and the way words were pronounced. The main Danish army came from Mercia probably along the via Devana, they would have sent out spies, or bands of warriors to reconnoitre the area to locate Edmund, who may have met with these forward bands as they approached Cambridge. Edmund would have used hit and run tactics to find out how strong the enemy was, possibly they would have fought small skirmishes and retreated down the other Roman road that led into Cambridge from Ermine Street. On this road there was a bridge called Lords Bridge that crossed Bourn Brook, which in those days was possibly a much wider and deeper stretch of water than it is today. Could this be the bridge as tradition tells us that a couple who had just been married saw him hiding either under the bridge or nearby it. When the Danes came the couple informed them, probably through fear more than anything else, of where Edmund was hiding. There was also another bridge not far from the same Roman road, east of Shepreth called The King’s Bridge, which crossed the Cam or Rhee. Just north of the Lords Bridge is the village of Barton which means town near an important place. Also to the left of Barton was a path called Toft Way which led to Combaton and to Toft. Toft being a Viking place name.The Dernford that you refer to could have been the place where Edmund died, amongst others.
Mr D. J. King