Battlefields›Battle of Tempsford
Early Medieval

Battle of Tempsford

917
England
Era
Early Medieval
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Vikings
VS
Victor
Anglo-Saxons
Outcome
Anglo-Saxon victory.
The Battle

History & Significance

In 917, the group of Danes who had previously been based in Huntingdon relocated to Tempsford in Bedfordshire, together with other Danes from East Anglia. They built and fortified a new burh there, to serve as a forward base for attacks on English territory. Later that year, after launching an unsuccessful attack on Bedford, they were attacked by an English army from the territories of King Edward the Elder, as part of his widespread offensive which in that year overwhelmed the Danish territories in East Anglia and south-eastern Mercia. The burh was stormed and a Danish king, probably that of East Anglia, was killed, along with the Jarls Toglos and Manna and many of their followers, while the rest were captured.

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Tempsford lies on Kellaways Formation And Oxford Clay Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Oxfordian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.

Buried history

Tempsford was not an old Viking settlement but a purpose-built war base. The Danes pulled back from Huntingdon and raised an entirely new fortress here for one reason: to carry the war into English Mercia. It served that purpose for barely a season. Its storming in 917 ended the independent Danish kingdom of East Anglia for good.

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Everything a full report reveals about Battle of Tempsford

This page covers Battle of Tempsford. 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 Tempsford

Tempsford Bridge
Tempsford Bridge
Scheduled monument · ~0.5 mi

Tempsford Bridge is a medieval structure crossing the River Ivel in Bedfordshire. The bridge dates from the fourteenth century and represents an important example of medieval river crossing infrastructure in the region. Constructed in stone with multiple arches, it reflects the engineering practi…

Richard Croft / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Bowl barrow, known as the `Round Hill', 440m WNW of College Farm
Bowl barrow, known as the `Round Hill', 440m WNW of College Farm
Scheduled monument · ~1.3 mi

Bowl barrow, known as the Round Hill, is a Bronze Age burial mound located 440 metres west-north-west of College Farm in Bedfordshire. The monument takes the form of a simple bowl barrow, a common funerary structure of the Bronze Age period characterised by a low mound with a circular profile. Th…

Barford Bridge
Barford Bridge
Scheduled monument · ~2.4 mi

Barford Bridge is a medieval bridge crossing the River Great Ouse near the village of Barford in Bedfordshire. The structure dates from the thirteenth century and represents an important example of medieval river crossing architecture in the region. The bridge is constructed of stone and features…

Pebbledash Grey / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
The Hillings, Castle Hills: a ringwork castle associated with a Saxon vill, shifted medieval village and a windmill mound
The Hillings, Castle Hills: a ringwork castle associated with a Saxon vill, shifted medieval village and a windmill mound
Scheduled monument · ~3.1 mi

The Hillings, Castle Hills is a ringwork castle located in Bedfordshire, England, occupying a site with a complex medieval history. The earthwork comprises a ringwork fortification associated with settlement shifting and land use patterns characteristic of the medieval period, incorporating evide…

Chris Jefferies. / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
The Malting (kiln)
The Malting (kiln)
Scheduled monument · ~4.2 mi

The Malting (kiln) is a post-medieval industrial structure located in Huntingdonshire, England. The kiln represents the infrastructure of malt production, a process integral to brewing and distilling operations from the medieval period onwards, with this example dating to the post-medieval era. T…

Keith Edkins / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Willington dovecot
Willington dovecot
Scheduled monument · ~4.4 mi

Willington dovecot is a Grade I listed structure located in Bedfordshire, dating to the sixteenth century. The building is constructed of red brick and stands as a notable example of a circular dovecot, a form of agricultural building designed for the systematic keeping of pigeons. The dovecot fe…

Jason Ballard / CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Gannocks Castle moated site
Scheduled monument · ~0.7 miles
Late Neolithic to Bronze Age barrow cemetery, Tempsford
Scheduled monument · ~0.9 miles
More from this era

Other Early Medieval Battles

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

Battles near Battle of Tempsford

Battle of St Neots (1648)
1648
~4.1 miles away
First Barons' War: Siege of Bedford Castle, 1224
1224
~7.5 miles away
Siege of Bedford Castle (1224)
1224
~7.6 miles away
Bedford Viking Attack 1010
1010
~7.7 miles away
Aubrey Research

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Sources
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