The Battle of Sandwich 851 was one of the continuing ninth century battles against the frequent Danish incursions, which at this time appear to have been concentrated principally in the south-east of England, and was led by Aethelstan, who was sub-king of Kent, Surrey and Sussex under his father Aethelwulf of Wessex. The battle is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, preceded for the year 851 by the Battle of Canterbury (1553734) which resulted in a Mercian retreat against 350 ships, and the Battle of Aclea (see 213528 and 397119 for the two locations proposed as Aclea), which ended in a victory for the West Saxon army. The Battle of Sandwich is the first battle in which the Chronicle explicitly refers to the Saxons as fighting 'in ships' (in contrast to other battles on land attempting to prevent the inshore progress of a seaborne army, as was common at that time) and resulted in a victory for King Aethelstan's forces.

Period

Medieval (410 - 1540)

Period comments

Early Medieval

The earliest date of the feature, as a year, if known

851

The latest date of the feature, as a year, if known

851

Monument Type - Broad

NAVAL BATTLEFIELD

Monument Type - Narrow

Monument Description

Evidence Type - Broad

Evidence Type - Narrow

Evidence Description

Object Type - Broad

Object Type - Narrow

Object Description

Other records:

NRHE Number

1572811

NT HBSMR Number

Unknown

HER Event Number

Unknown

External Link

None

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