Battlefields›Battle of Beran Byrig
Early Medieval

Battle of Beran Byrig

556
England
Era
Early Medieval
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Britons
VS
Victor
West Saxons
Outcome
Saxon victory.
The Battle

History & Significance

At the Battle of Beran Byrig or Beranburh the West Saxons are said to have defeated the Britons at Barbury Castle hillfort near Swindon in or around 556 AD according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

556: This year Cynric and Ceawlin fought with the Britons at Beran byrg.

The control of Barbury Castle and its surroundings is likely to have been strategically important for both sides, as it lies on the Ridgeway, a principal regional communication route.

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Beran Byrig lies on White Chalk Subgroup, bedrock that formed in the Maastrichtian. The rock here is chalk.

Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

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Everything a full report reveals about Battle of Beran Byrig

This page covers Battle of Beran Byrig. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside scheduled monuments and everything else the record holds within a few miles:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Beran Byrig

Penning bell barrow 600m east of Avebury Down Barn
Penning bell barrow 600m east of Avebury Down Barn
Scheduled monument · ~3.8 mi

Penning bell barrow is a Neolithic or Bronze Age burial mound located approximately six hundred metres east of Avebury Down Barn in Wiltshire. The monument takes the form of a bell barrow, a distinctive funerary structure characterised by a central mound surrounded by a ditch and outer bank, a ty…

Andrew Smith / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Group of four round barrows 500m south-east of Avebury Down Barn, forming part of a Bronze Age round barrow cemetery on Avebury Down
Group of four round barrows 500m south-east of Avebury Down Barn, forming part of a Bronze Age round barrow cemetery on Avebury Down
Scheduled monument · ~4 mi

A group of four round barrows 500m south-east of Avebury Down Barn is part of a Bronze Age burial cemetery occupying Avebury Down in Wiltshire. These earthwork monuments, typical of funerary practice during the Bronze Age, form part of the broader landscape of ritual and ceremonial sites characte…

Brian Robert Marshall / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Devil's Den long barrow, 600m east of White Acre
Devil's Den long barrow, 600m east of White Acre
Scheduled monument · ~4.1 mi

Devil's Den is a Neolithic long barrow situated approximately six hundred metres east of White Acre in Wiltshire, England. The monument consists of a substantial earthwork mound with associated stone structures, characteristic of burial monuments constructed during the Neolithic period, roughly b…

JimChampion / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Bell barrow and adjacent bowl barrow on Marlborough Common, 120m east of Wootton Bassett Road
Bell barrow and adjacent bowl barrow on Marlborough Common, 120m east of Wootton Bassett Road
Scheduled monument · ~4.3 mi

Bell barrow and adjacent bowl barrow on Marlborough Common, 120m east of Wootton Bassett Road is a pair of Bronze Age burial monuments situated on the open downland of Marlborough Common in Wiltshire. The bell barrow, distinguished by its characteristic bell-shaped mound with a surrounding ditch…

Vieve Forward / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Dam of King's fishpond
Dam of King's fishpond
Scheduled monument · ~4.9 mi

The Dam of King's Fishpond is a medieval water management structure located in Wiltshire, England. The monument consists of an earthen dam constructed to impound water for the purpose of maintaining a fishpond, a feature characteristic of aristocratic and monastic estates during the medieval peri…

Michael Dibb / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Avebury henge and stone circles
Avebury henge and stone circles
Scheduled monument · ~4.9 mi

Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument and stone circle complex located in Wiltshire, England, constructed during the third millennium BC, likely between 2800 and 2200 BC. The site comprises a massive circular bank and ditch enclosing an area of approximately 28 acres, within which stand two small…

MikPeach / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Bowl barrow 630m north east of Wick Bottom Barn
Scheduled monument · ~1.6 miles
Ogbourne Maizey Down round barrow
Scheduled monument · ~1.9 miles
More from this era

Other Early Medieval Battles

Battle of Wippedesfleot
466
England
Battle of Crayford (457)
457
Kent, England
Battle of Aylesford
455
England
Anglian Assault on Roman York (c.450-500 AD)
450
Yorkshire, England
In the same landscape

Battles near Battle of Beran Byrig

Marlborough Royalist Sack 1642
1642
~5.2 miles away
Battle of Woden's Burg
715
~9.2 miles away
Battle of Woden's Burg
592
~9.2 miles away
Battle of Roundway Down 1643
1643
~10.9 miles away
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