Events (Before The 2016 Commemoration)
BASH was created to commemorate the millennial anniversary of the Battle of Assandun on 18th October 2016.
BASH will also organise and support events and activities prior to 2016 to raise awareness of the 2016 Commemoration.
Please see below for details of these events.
18th October 2009 - The Case Of the Missing Battlesite
18 October 2009 marked the 993rd anniversary of the Battle of 'Assandun', which was fought somewhere in the Essex countryside in the year 1016 between the English king, Edmund Ironside, and the Danish king, Canute. Traditionally, the battle has been thought to have taken place at Ashingdon, near Rochford. However, investigations by members of The Battle of Assandun Commemoration Campaign (known as BASH), which is seeking to raise awareness of the battle with a view to marking its 1000th anniversary in 2016, have revealed that there is more than one contender for the battle site.
'The BASH campaign was set up in 2006 after the publication of my poem The Battle of Ashingdon: 1016,' said Ian Yearsley, an Eastwood-based local history author and poet. 'With my poetry hat on I was happy to place the battle in what has become its traditional setting, but with my history hat on I needed to know what the facts were.'
Together with Andrew Barham, another Essex history author, and Jamie Godsafe, an Anglo-Saxon enthusiast, Ian set about researching the history of the battle, through primary historical sources such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles which are roughly contemporary with the battle.
'We soon began to realise we were treading a well-trodden path,' said Ian.
The path ultimately led the BASH campaigners to Time Team historian and Anglo-Saxon expert, Dr. Sam Newton, who had already carried out extensive research on possible locations for the battle site. On 17 October this year Ian and Andrew went to meet Dr. Newton at a lecture he was giving about the battle at another famous Anglo-Saxon site, Sutton Hoo in Suffolk.
'Dr. Newton described the Battle of Assandun as “at least as significant as the Battle of Hastings”,' said Ian, 'but admitted up front that the site of the battle was “a question of some dispute”.'
Dr. Newton considered three possible locations for the battle: Ashingdon, Ashdon (in north-west Essex, near Saffron Walden) and Assington (near Sudbury, on the Essex-Suffolk border). All three have significant claims for being the battle site. Troop movements, the landscape and even linguistics were all taken into account in Dr. Newton’s presentation, as was the story of the construction of a minster (church) by the victorious King Canute at the site after the battle.
'Dr. Newton revealed that although Ashingdon has good claims on linguistic grounds, especially through its apparent connection with a recently-discovered contemporary Danish manuscript, the evidence provided by the fabric of Ashingdon church is not as compelling as that for Ashdon's claimed minster at Hadstock,' said Ian. 'The dedication of the church at Assington to St Edmund, someone Canute is known to have revered, further complicates the picture. Meanwhile, the landscape evidence suits all three places. The problem is that the single most important source, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, leaves it open to interpretation as to whether Canute came into Essex via the Crouch, which would suit Ashingdon's case, or via a north Essex river such as the Stour, which would better suit the claims of Ashdon or Assington.'.
Research on the shortlisted sites for the battle location will continue. Historians still have seven years to find further evidence to come up with a definitive answer in time for the battle's millennium celebrations and the BASH campaigners hope that it might be possible to get the Time Team involved at one or more sites between then and now. But for the moment, the mystery of the true battle location remains. As Dr. Newton put it, ’the jury is still out’.
30th January 2008 - Exhibition December 2007 Photos
We have now added photos from our December 2007 Exhibition, click on the photo below to see the individual photos with descriptions.
26th September 2007 - Exhibition December 2007 Flyers now available
We have now produced printer-friendly flyers for our exhibition at Southend Library in December 2007.
If you would like to support us and raise awareness of the exhibition and BASH then please print the flyers and post them in your workplace, school or anywhere else that you have permission to.
Please note that the flyer has been produced as a Microsoft Word document, contact us if you would like a copy of the flyer in another format.
24th May 2007 - Exhibition planned for December 2007
Members of the BASH Steering Committee met in May to agree details of a Battle of Assandun Commemorative Exhibition to be held at Southend Library from the 5th to the 12th December 2007.
The aim of the exhibition is to raise awareness of the battle and the campaign for its commemoration in its millennium year, 2016. The exhibition will feature Anglo-Saxon and Viking literature and artefacts, as well as historical details about the battle and profiles of its key figures, Edmund, Canute and Edric Streona.
Representatives from two historical groups
- Þa Engliscan Gesiþas (The English Companions), a society devoted to the study of the Anglo-Saxon period, and
- Vikings Online, Britain's largest Dark-Age re-enactment group
It is hoped that local schools can also be involved.
BASH will be seeking to commemorate the battle, which took place on 18th October 1016, in some way each year between now and 2016.