I think the battle took place around the town of Barnsley, (Anglo-Saxon) north of Sheffield. Recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book, monks had established an ease chapel there because 3 roads converged: Chester to Doncaster (East/West), Sheffield to Wakefield (North/South), and Rotherham to Huddersfield (Southeast to Northwest). An army would have had an easier time traveling along a road or cattle track than transversing the Barnsdale Forest, of which Grimethorpe(Viking) 3 miles east of Barnsley, still had a remnant in 1964, with a boundary ditch on the other side of the village.
Brunnanburh,a missing important Battlesite with two theories as to location Bromborough,Cheshire and Barnsdale Bar,Knottingly,Sth Yorkshire on the River Went, really only the fallen grave pits would be certain if they could be located but few sites have been,Towton1461 (43) Lewes 1264 (3) and Edgehill 1642 (5) we can live in hope!
Recent aerial surveying has produced images showing the place where thousands of Royalist soldiers were buried in mass graves - great pits - after the 1644 Battle of Marston Moor. After nearly four hundred years the pits are still clearly visible. Given that the documentary sources for Brun(n)anburh say that many thousands died on both sides, and that only a few of the high-status dead in Athelstan's army were taken away for burial elsewhere, either the corpses were left where they fell on the battlefield, or great pits were dug in which to bury them (as at Marston Moor). It is possible that any such pits might still be detectable. It is unlikely that the dead were buried with their weapons, so metal detecting probably won't find much. But as far as I know no-one has done any systematic surveying of the Wentbridge area. Nearly all the debate about the site of Brunnanburh has been speculative discussion about the written sources.
@@peterfreeman6677 Five years ago at Durham a grave pit was found containing all male bodies some 300+ after pathological examination they proved to Scots Prisoners taken at Dunbar 1650 and most had died of Neglect and Privation though Cromwell took over 2000 prisoners most ended up dead through Starvation from 1655 most of Cromwells and Charles 11nd prisoners ended up as white slaves on Jamaican and Barbados Sugar Plantation where their Descendants can be seen today known as Redlegs thhey're rarely mentioned and more than one Slave Ship never reached the Caribbean.
@@peterfreeman6677 The problem is that the few contemporary references to Brunnanburh may well be exaggerating the losses to underwrite it's status as a great battle. The poem was inserted later into the West Saxon annals (innacurately known as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles). Take the Song of Brunnanburh out of what we have and there are the barest entries. Modern scholars still tend to over estimate casualties in medieval battles, and Brunnanburh is likely to have witnessed relatively small numbers of slain. It is unlikely that enemy dead would be buried at all, especially if heathen dead were among them, and vice versa.
I think the battle took place around the town of Barnsley, (Anglo-Saxon) north of Sheffield. Recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book, monks had established an ease chapel there because 3 roads converged: Chester to Doncaster (East/West), Sheffield to Wakefield (North/South), and Rotherham to Huddersfield (Southeast to Northwest). An army would have had an easier time traveling along a road or cattle track than transversing the Barnsdale Forest, of which Grimethorpe(Viking) 3 miles east of Barnsley, still had a remnant in 1964, with a boundary ditch on the other side of the village.
Brunnanburh,a missing important Battlesite with two theories as to location Bromborough,Cheshire and Barnsdale Bar,Knottingly,Sth Yorkshire on the River Went, really only the fallen grave pits would be certain if they could be located but few sites have been,Towton1461 (43) Lewes 1264 (3) and Edgehill 1642 (5) we can live in hope!
Recent aerial surveying has produced images showing the place where thousands of Royalist soldiers were buried in mass graves - great pits - after the 1644 Battle of Marston Moor. After nearly four hundred years the pits are still clearly visible. Given that the documentary sources for Brun(n)anburh say that many thousands died on both sides, and that only a few of the high-status dead in Athelstan's army were taken away for burial elsewhere, either the corpses were left where they fell on the battlefield, or great pits were dug in which to bury them (as at Marston Moor). It is possible that any such pits might still be detectable. It is unlikely that the dead were buried with their weapons, so metal detecting probably won't find much. But as far as I know no-one has done any systematic surveying of the Wentbridge area. Nearly all the debate about the site of Brunnanburh has been speculative discussion about the written sources.
@@peterfreeman6677 Five years ago at Durham a grave pit was found containing all male bodies some 300+ after pathological examination they proved to Scots Prisoners taken at Dunbar 1650 and most had died of Neglect and Privation though Cromwell took over 2000 prisoners most ended up dead through Starvation from 1655 most of Cromwells and Charles 11nd prisoners ended up as white slaves on Jamaican and Barbados Sugar Plantation where their Descendants can be seen today known as Redlegs thhey're rarely mentioned and more than one Slave Ship never reached the Caribbean.
@@peterfreeman6677 The problem is that the few contemporary references to Brunnanburh may well be exaggerating the losses to underwrite it's status as a great battle. The poem was inserted later into the West Saxon annals (innacurately known as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles). Take the Song of Brunnanburh out of what we have and there are the barest entries. Modern scholars still tend to over estimate casualties in medieval battles, and Brunnanburh is likely to have witnessed relatively small numbers of slain. It is unlikely that enemy dead would be buried at all, especially if heathen dead were among them, and vice versa.
I would really like the site to be Carl Wark.
Carl's Wark is certainly an impressive Citadel when it was recently excavated they could only say it was probably Dark Age ,shame!
Wirral.
Agree