Aethelflaed by Clarkson Tim;

Author:Clarkson, Tim;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Birlinn

Bremesbyrig

Under its entry for 910, the ‘A’ text of ASC gives an account of the Northumbrian invasion of Mercia and the battle of Tettenhall. An entry for the same year in the Mercian Register says that Æthelflæd built a burh at Bremesbyrig. There is no mention of Lord Æthelred, even though he still lived, so he was presumably too ill to accompany her on this venture. It is often regarded as the second burh-building project undertaken solely by Æthelflæd rather than jointly with her husband, the first being Chester in 907. Unfortunately, the location of Bremesbyrig is utterly lost. One suggestion is that it might have formed part of a defensive network in south-west Mercia that also included Worcester and Gloucester.18 Another theory looks further north, to Bromborough in Wirral where an important Anglo-Saxon estate existed in the tenth century. A superficial similarity between the names Bromborough and Bremesbyrig has been noted in this context.19 Bromborough’s frontier position certainly makes it a plausible site for a fortified settlement in the early 900s: it lay just within the English part of the Wirral peninsula, nudging the southern edge of the Norse colony. Moreover, it overlooks the Mersey estuary and has considerable strategic value. Yet nothing resembling a tenth-century burh has been found there. Nor do early forms of the name closely resemble Bremesbyrig or contain the latter’s intermediate -s-. It is likely that the popular identification of Bromborough as the site of the lost battle of Brunanburh – a major English victory in 937 – has influenced the idea that it was also the site of Æthelflæd’s burh.20

On etymological grounds a better candidate for Bremesbyrig is Bromsberrow in Gloucestershire, a village roughly ten miles north-west of Gloucester. One objection to Bromsberrow is that a burh in this vicinity might have been unnecessary, given that one already existed twenty miles to the north-west at Hereford. Archaeological evidence shows that the Hereford burh was built before c.850, being substantially improved in the late ninth or early tenth century. Its redevelopment is usually attributed to Æthelred and Æthelflæd in the 890s, or to Æthelflæd alone in the early 900s.21 In a wider strategic context, Hereford links up with Gloucester and Worcester to form a defensive triangle protecting south-west Mercia. It seems unlikely that Æthelflæd would have placed an additional burh in the centre of this triangle in 910. In any case, since Bromsberrow is not close to a Roman road or to a major river it is hard to see what advantage a fortification there would have had.22 So, although it is true that the name Bromsberrow could have developed from Bremesbyrig, in the same way that Bromsgrove in Worcestershire was once Bremesgrave, the root of - berrow seems to be berg (‘mound or tumulus’) rather than burh/byrig (‘fort’). Nor does anything in the present-day village indicate the presence of a tenth-century fortification. Although the summit of a nearby hill shows traces of a narrow ditch of unknown date these remains do not look substantial enough for a burh.

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