The Great Battle at Brunanburh

[indridcoldanime]

Very interesting but, if 'all' the evidence is considered and the name of the river is allowed for then the Burnley site is paramout, if you need details refer to S W Partington's The Danes in Lancashire and Yorkshire. The long lost site of the Burgh which to many rules out the Burnley site is known to a few and if the site could be revealed without some visitors site being built then this may happen. But till then i simply concour with oOdfruma937

[Ordfruma937]

Folklore around where I live recalls a great battle being fought on the moors above Burnley.

Another local legend says that five kings are buried on Worsthorne Moor, there are also some burial mounds and monoliths known as ''battle stones'' and a mass grave was found in the 1850`s when builders were digging out the cellers of some houses near Turfmoor.

So Burnley is as good a place as any

[sgnewa]

The Sky news reporter talks about "Saxons taking on the Vikings" its a strange way to describe the battle as some of the most fierce Vikings warriors ever fought on the English side

[TheGerbilsRevenge]

There should be archaeological excavation on the golf course. It's a one-dimensional, dumb, faders' course anyway. Dig it up!

[TheGerbilsRevenge]

The 18th at Brackenwood is a difficult hole. That's what he's standing on!

[Angeltheow]

Great posting, but I still need convincing of the Wirral. The Irish Annals report that Anlaf didn't return to Dublin until 938, which che had a bit further to travel that the short crossing from Thingwall to Dublin. The Wirral location also doesn't properly explain Constantines involvement, presumably invading from the North. That said I've read the Dingesmere paper and there are some compelling arguments in there. One day we might know!

[TheRavenAndTheWolf]

Unfortunately, with almost 1100 years separating now the time of the battle this is an issue that probably has no resolution. I have had extensive contact these past few years with Stephen Harding on this issue, primarily because I wrote a fictional novel about it, and even though his argument is all around pretty sound I am still not 100% convinced Wirral is it either. Still, its the most likely location of all those I have heard proposed.

[TheRavenAndTheWolf]

With regard to the invasion by the Scots this too perplexed me over why they would invade south into Mercia rather than seizing say, York in Northumbria. The chronicle does not lend us much detail as to Constantines movement but it is reasonable to assume he would have chosen the Wirral in order to merge his army with that of Anlaf of Eireland who likely moored his fleet in the Dee estuary. Knowing this, Athelstan's logical response would be to cut them off there and fight them on the peninsula.