Archaeology Magazine — March-April 2018

54 ARCHAEOLOGY • March/April 2018

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle offers no insights into the nature

of the battle for Repton, but evidence shows it was likely a

bloody one. Next to a crypt where members of the Mercian

royal family were buried, the excavation unearthed a Viking

warrior who had suffered grievous injuries and had been laid

to rest alongside an iron sword, with a silver Thor’s hammer

around his neck. “He died a very violent death indeed,” says

but they come back the next year. They
swear an oath, but they don’t keep it.
The Anglo-Saxons don’t quite know how
to negotiate with someone who doesn’t
respect their laws of peacemaking.”
The early Biddle excavations at the
Repton overwintering camp of 873 – 874 were able to illus-
trate how the Vikings behaved in victory. After defeating
the Mercians, the Vikings ran roughshod over some of their
most sacred territory. They built a heavily fortified D-shaped
enclosure with St. Wystan’s church to the south serving as a
gatehouse and possibly an eating hall. A large defensive ditch
was constructed, cutting through Mercian cemeteries to the
east and west before turning north to meet the River Trent.
Archaeologists also discovered what are believed to have been
at least 10 carved Anglo-Saxon stone crosses smashed into
small pieces. Says Biddle, who is now an emeritus professor at
the University of Oxford, “They broke the place up.”

The recent discovery of an arrow-

head (above) and ship nail (left)

provides further evidence of the

Viking army’s presence in Repton.

In this aerial view of Repton, one can see St. Wystan’s church (above right), which the Vikings put to use as a gatehouse at the edge
of a fortified enclosure, and part of a recent excavation (center) that established the Viking camp was larger than had been thought.