Battlefields›Battle of Rochester
Early Medieval

Battle of Rochester

885
England
Era
Early Medieval
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Battle

History & Significance

Battle of Rochester was an early medieval pitched battle between opposing field armies, fought in England in 885. Which side prevailed is not recorded in the surviving sources, and its outcome is not conclusively established in the historical record. It belongs to the early medieval centuries, the age of the Anglo-Saxon, Pictish, Brythonic and Norse kingdoms whose rivalries shaped Britain before the Norman Conquest of 1066.

The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Rochester lies on Yoredale Group, bedrock that formed in the Bashkirian. The rock here is limestone, argillaceous rocks and subordinate sandstone, interbedded.

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Everything a full report reveals about Battle of Rochester

This page covers Battle of Rochester. 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 Rochester

Bremenium Roman station, High Rochester
Bremenium Roman station, High Rochester
Scheduled monument · ~0.4 mi

Bremenium is a Roman auxiliary fort situated at High Rochester in Northumberland, built during the 2nd century AD as part of the military infrastructure of Roman Britain. The fort was established to control and defend the Dere Street supply route running northwards into Scotland, and it remained…

Johann Magdlehner / CC0 / Wikimedia Commons
Roman Camp, 750m SSW of Sills Farm
Roman Camp, 750m SSW of Sills Farm
Scheduled monument · ~1.1 mi

Roman Camp, 750m SSW of Sills Farm is a Roman military installation situated in Northumberland. The site represents a temporary or semi-permanent encampment of the Roman period, likely dating to the campaigns of the first and second centuries AD when Roman forces were consolidating control over n…

Roman camp, 400m SSW of Sills Farm
Roman camp, 400m SSW of Sills Farm
Scheduled monument · ~1.3 mi

Roman camp, 400m SSW of Sills Farm is a temporary marching camp of the Roman period situated in Northumberland. The site represents one of the auxiliary camps established during Roman military operations in northern Britain, likely dating to the 1st or 2nd century AD when Roman forces were active…

Roman camp, 250m north-west of Silloans
Roman camp, 250m north-west of Silloans
Scheduled monument · ~1.8 mi

A Roman camp is a military fortification located 250 metres north-west of Silloans in Northumberland. The site comprises a rectangular enclosure defined by defensive ditches and ramparts characteristic of Roman temporary or semi-permanent camps constructed during the campaigns in northern Britain…

Romano-British farmstead 330m west of Rattenraw Farm
Romano-British farmstead 330m west of Rattenraw Farm
Scheduled monument · ~2 mi

The Romano-British farmstead 330m west of Rattenraw Farm is a rural settlement of the Roman period located in Northumberland. The site represents typical Romano-British agricultural activity during the occupation of northern Britain, when such farmsteads served as productive units within the broa…

Andrew Curtis / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Bellshiel Law long cairn
Bellshiel Law long cairn
Scheduled monument · ~2.3 mi

Bellshiel Law is a Neolithic long cairn situated in Northumberland, England. The monument consists of a substantial earthwork mound constructed from stone, characteristic of long barrows built during the Neolithic period, broadly dating to the fourth millennium BC. Such monuments typically served…

Russel Wills / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Petty Knowes Roman Cemetery and Length of Dere Street Roman Road, Rochester
Scheduled monument · ~0.2 miles
Two Roman camps, 550m east of Burdhopecrag Hall
Scheduled monument · ~0.6 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 Rochester

English Border, Scottish Raids 1332 to 1335
1332
~9.6 miles away
Pictish Attack on Hadrian's Wall Outpost Forts, 180 AD
180
~10.7 miles away
Siege of Wark Castle 1315
1315
~11.9 miles away
English invasion of Scotland
1385
~12.9 miles away
Aubrey Research

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Sources
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