Saxon Seaxe Anglo Saxon History
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Map Position
This map shows the position of locations of type 'Town, Village, Roman City, Roman Town, Roman Villa, Roman Major Fort, Roman Watch Tower, Roman Port, Saxon Landing' containing 'dubris, durobrivae, durovernum, portus lemanis, regulbium, rutupiae' centered on Rochester in Medway.
Map Logic
Lost Saxon Towns - Agelesþrep - 455AD

The forest of Andredsweald is shown, which was impassable except where Roman Roads or rivers cut through it.

Roman roads are shown in black plotted from Ivan D Margary 'Roman Roads in Britain' published in 1955.

The red roads are taken from Ivan D Margary 'Roman ways in the Weald' published in 1948.

The Blue lines show the extent of the tidal rivers with the blue shaded areas showing tidal salt marshes as it would have been in Saxon times.

 
Icon Key:
Roman Town
Roman Major Fort

Lost Saxon Towns - Agelesþrep - 455AD

 



Extract from the Anglo Saxon Chronicles 455AD
Original :- Her Hengest ⁊ Horsa fuhton wiþ Wyrtgeorne þam cyninge, in þære stowe þe is gecueden Agelesþrep, ⁊ his broþur Horsan man ofslog; ⁊ æfter þam Hengest feng to rice ⁊ æsc his sunu.

A.D. 455. This year Hengest and Horsa fought with Wurtgern the king at Agelesþrep. His brother Horsa being there slain, Hengest afterwards took to the kingdom with his son Aesc.

Place name Translation:-

Agelesþrep
  Ageles(Ægles) - Eagles
  þrep(þreap) - a crowd
  (The place of the Eagle Troops - Rochester)

So we are looking for an old Roman Legionary Fort between Canterbury where Vortigern was re installed as the King in 449AD and Crayford which is where the last battle for Kent is recorded in 457AD, there is only one and that is at Rochester which is a strategic crossing point of the Medway, and one which Vortigern would have needed to hold. Rochester was also at the time the second capital of Kent, so this seems the most likely location for Agelesþrep



External References in no particular order :-
Anglo Saxon Chronicles
Online Anglo Saxon dictionary
Online Etymology dictionary
Open Domesday Book - The first free online copy of the Domesday Book
The Ermine Street Guard Roman re-enactment and research Society
The "Kent A" cadastre - page 5 - Peterson 2002
Archaeologia Cantiana Online
Romney Marsh Research Trust
Romney Marsh the Fifth Continent
VillageNet the reference guide to villages in Kent & Sussex
Global warming Flood Maps
The Anglo Saxon Chronicles
Google Maps - the core of the system
GeoPlaner - Useful site for plotting map data
Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars 55BC(Books 4 & 5)
Wikipedia - Caesar's invasions of Britain
Wikipedia - Portus Istus
The Geography of Claudius Ptolemy (Bill Thayers)
Roman Britain.org
Runetree Beowulf
Bayeux Tapestry Online
The Secrets of the Norman Invasion
Chronicles of John of Worcester
Battle Historic Society
Binsted village website(Mearcredesburnan Steðe)
The Spears of Andred
Find British Archaelogical Sites
Wealden Iron Research Group
Topographic Map of the UK

 

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Author: Simon M - Last Updated: 13/03/2024 13:12
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Data is derived from a number or sources including the Ordnance Survey Gazetter data overlayed onto Google Maps