Possible site of Late Anglo-Saxon burh of Wigangamere (EHER 81857)

This burh is mentioned in the Essex campaign of Edward the Elder in May 917. There is mounting evidence that it was located at Newport in Essex.

NRHE data transfer: The burh of Wigangamere. Sited to Newport in Essex. During the campaign against the Danes in 917, Edward the Elder constructed the burh at Wigangamere. Nothing further is known concerning the burh. Several locations for the burh have been put forward in the past, all in the region of north Hertfordshire, west Essex and south Cambridgeshire, e.g. Wicken, 17 miles north of Cambridge, Wigmore Pound in Castle Camps, and Waymere in Hertfordshire. Wigmore in Herefordshire has also been suggested. None of these sites has however provided any evidence for association. Edward's campaign drove a wedge between the Danish armies at Northampton and Bedford by constructing the burh at Buckingham. It is suggested that Wigingamere also fulfilled this strategy, dividing the Danish armies at Colchester and Cambridge. Newport was part of an extensive royal estate centred on neighbouring Bonhunt in the middle Saxon period. Topographically Newport lies on a north-facing spur, overlooking former marshland to the north and east, and adjacent to the River Cam. The estimated defended area would be about 1.87 hectares, small for a burh, but if the topography of the town as a former burh is correct, there would have been an extra-mural settlement to the south where the church and market are located. The name Newport (literally 'New Market') supplanted the earlier name, probably fairly soon after its establishment, a process which would have been enhanced by the rapid reconquest of the region and Newport's location along the major route from London to Cambridge. The earlier name may be retained in part locally at Wigmore Farm which was part of the same estate. <1>