Possible site of late Anglo-Saxon Battle of Benfleet (EHER 7167)

Suggested location of 893 AD or 894 AD Battle of Benfleet which took place between the Danes and the English during the reign of King Alfred, but which does not, at the time of writing in 2013, have a definitive location. Haesten (Hasten, Hastein) the Dane had previously built a fortified camp in the area, perhaps as early as 885. In this year King Alfred turned westwards with the bulk of his army to deal with the Danish threat towards Exeter, while some men, together with reinforcements from London, marched on Benfleet. They took Haesten's camp by surprise, for Haesten himself was out on a raid, stormed the fortress, and destroyed some of the Danish fleet, breaking up some, burning others, and capturing and taking yet more to London or Rochester. Some charred timbers found in Benfleet Creek are said to represent some of the lost Danish ships and are recorded. The English had the victory. This battle was followed by the Battle of the River Lea in 895 in which the Danish vessels met a similar fate. The suggested location for the battle is based on its proximity to four principal salient locations: the area of Haesten's Camp where the alleged ship timbers were found; to the railway line; to the local Church of St. Mary, South Benfleet, which is said to overlie a Saxon church on the site; and to a suitable area of the creek where it is plausible that the Danish vessels were laid up. This is, however, a suggested location for representative purposes only, and is not intended to be definitive.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: The annal for 893 is dated 894 in the C and D manuscripts, and is not in E. 'When the king heard that, he turned west towards Exeter with the whole army, except for a very inconsiderable portion of the people (who continued) eastwards. They went on until they came to London, and then with the citizens and with the reinforcements which came to them from the west, they went east to Benfleet. Haesten had then come there with his army which had been at Milton, and the large army which had been at Appledore on the estuary of the Lympne had also come there. Haesten had previously built that fortress at Benfleet; and he was then out on a raid, and the large army was at home. Then the English went there and put the enemy to flight and stormed the fortress and captured all that was within, both goods, and women and also children, and brought all to London; and they either broke up or burnt all the ships, or brought them to London or to Rochester. And Haesten's wife and two sons were brought to the king, and he gave them back to him, because one of them was his godson, and the other the godson of Ealdorman Ethelred. They had stood sponsor to them before Haesten came to Benfleet [1] and he had given the king oaths and hostages, and the king had also made him generous gifts of money, and so he did also when he gave back the boy and the woman. But immediately they came to Benfleet and had made that fortress, Haesten ravaged his kingdom, that very province which Ethelred, his son's godfather, was in charge of; and again, a second time, he had gone on a raid in that same kingdom when his fortress was stormed [2]'. Footnoted in original text: [1] It is suggested that Alfred had been in negotiations with Haesten earlier in the year but it is possible that these events took place in 885, when the Chronicle notes a Viking presence at Benfleet. [2] The Annals of St. Neots replace the last sentence with 'But when Haesten came again to Benfleet he repaired there the fortress, which had been destroyed. <1> Spurrell reported that charred ships and many human skeletons were found by workmen constructing the railway 'some thirty odd years ago', so around 1855. He extrapolated that these were the remains of ships and their occupants from this Danish incursion. <2> Considerable remains of burnt ships and human skeletons were found about 1855 when the railway bridge was built over the backwater. <3> 'In the Saxon Chronicle, under the date of AD 894, we hear of "Beamfleote" having been already constructed by Hasten, the Danish leader. We seek in vain for satisfactory traces of Hasten's fort at Benfleet. It has been thought that it occupied the higher ground above the railway but, as H. Laver says, 'there is quite enough remaining around the churchyard to mark out one corner of the fortress'. Assuming this to be correct, the fort occupied a position by the side of the creek. It is worthy of note that when the railway was being constructed, remains of burnt vessels were found in the waterway; valuable evidence when we remember that the Saxon Chronicle tells us the deeds of King Alfred's men: "And all the ships they either broke in pieces or burned or brought to London or to Rochester." ' <4> 'Ship timbers, supposed to be the remains of the Viking ships, were found in Canvey Creek when the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway was in construction.' <5> The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a Danish camp at Benfleet in AD 894 (see EHER 7090). When the railway bridge across the creek was built workmen reported finding remains of burnt vessels. 'Our late friend (Mr King) informed me that when the railway bridge was made over the creek the workmen, in excavating for the piers and for making the railway, came on the remains of burnt vessels, to a considerable extent, and this statement is corroborated by Mr F.C.J. Spurrell in his paper...'. <6> 'The valiant Londoners destroyed all Hasten's work and so we find no remains. Of his fleet, the sunken ships remain in the fleet close to the camp to this day, fur during the construction of the railway bridge there, some thirty-odd years ago, the navvies came upon the ships, many of which were charred, and in and about them lay great quantities of human skeletons.' <7> It is suggested in this article that the camp was in the nature of a fortified hythe with a landward wall. "That the ships lay there I had curious evidence some years ago. An old gentleman . . . told me that when the railway bridge across the fleet was being built, the navvies came upon many ships deep in the mud, several of which on exposure had evidently been burnt, as their charred remains showed. Indeed, about them lay numerous human skeletons." The number of Haesten's ships was put at 300: "they must have covered the foreshore for a long distance at low water. They were doubtless crowded together and easily fired. I cannot doubt that the remains were part of Haesten's fleet, and their depth in the mud is in accord with the slight submergence which has happened since." <8> The position of loss is an arbitrary NGR based on its proximity to the creek at a suitable location for beaching in Haesten's absence, and to the site of his camp and the alleged Viking timbers found in the creek by the camp. It is used for both the documented firing and breaking up (the present record) of the vessels. This position is for representational purposes only and is not intended to be definitive. <9>