Extract from the Anglo Saxon Chronicles 485AD
Original :- Her Ælle gefeaht wiþ Walas neah Mearcredesburnan steðe.
Translation :- Here Aelle defeated the 'Welsh' near Mearcredesburnan stede.
Where was Mearcredesburnan stede, lets try to translate.
mære translates to - the sea or lake(large body of water).
credes doesnt seem to be Anglo Saxon, but could be cæses - meaning watercress
burnan translates to - a stream or torrent
steðe translates to the modern day staith - a bank or shore(landing point).
So the overall translation could be :- The sea landing point at the watercress stream.
OK, where was the sea at the time, the sea level on the map is shown at aproximately the 5 metre contour line, as it would seem
that this was the high tide mark which I believe we can explain in our
Sea Level Page.
As the Anglo Saxon Chronicles were written a long time after the events, then the written spelling could be wrong, but tries
to re-create the spoken history.
If credes should be cæses(watercress) then to grow it in the old fashioned way would require a constant stream of fresh
spring water.
If we accept this, then the location would need to be in Sussex next to the sea with a spring fed stream running into it,
there is a location which could be derived from Mearcredesburnan stede by firstly removing the Mearcredes to give burnanstede,
then to Benestede in the Domesday Book then finally simplifying this to Binstead. So to our logic this would seem the most
plausible location for this battle, so lets look at other information we have.
From 475AD until 485AD it would seem like the South Saxons were heading west to occupy the land between the Arun and Adur rivers,
as they dont seem to expand towards Pevensey until 491AD. Evidence for this expansion from Lancing is seen by the predominance
of villages containing ing(ænge - troubled or narrow(possibly fortified border/boundary villages)) along the Roman road towards
Chichester(Noviomagus Reginorum [The new fields of the Regeni]). It would seem likely that the Saxons kept pushing west and were advancing, building forts,
consolidating and repeating this process as the number of ings seems to increase the further west they push, this cycle appears
to have been used in Kent and other areas .
As the Saxons pushed the 'Welsh' back to the edge of the Arun, it would seem most likely that the inhabitants of Chichester
would have become more and more concerned, so they would have raised a force to prevent the Saxons advancing across the Adur.
To this end they would have the force deployed on the Roman Road between the Adur and Chichester(Noviomagus Reginorum), so
Binstead is a good point for the defense of Chichester. This is also on one of the old Roman roads so is easy to take a force
from Chichester to the Arun valley.
Some recent excavations have discovered a prehistoric earthworks running north to south through Binsted, then this would give a good
position to stop the Saxons heading west see https://www.binsted.org/archaeology.
As there doesn't seem to be any more references to Aelle in the west of Sussex, it again seems likely that this battle
opened up Chichester to the South Saxons as there seems to be some conjecture that the name Chichester derives from Cissa's
Castle, however it could also mean chi(derived from chyae - a crow or jay) and chester(derived from ceaster - roman fortified town).
This could possibly mean(I am really unsure of this) that the Saxons sacked Chichester and killed every one inside just leaving the
crows to circle round around the City - the South Saxons would seem fairly bloodthirsty lot as they killed everyone in the fort at
Pevensey in 491AD.
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