Edington is the site where Alfred the Great decisively beat the Viking army under Guthrum and recovered his lost kingdom. The Vikings had driven him out of Wessex and his realm now consisted of basically a swamp and the fortress of Athelnay inside it. For him to come back from that was incredible. For him to go on from that to drive the Vikings out of his kingdom for good and to begin claiming all England as his kingdom was just draw-dropping. The man had balls. And none of it would have happened without this battle. So basically this is the most important place in England. If this is really where it happened of course.
Edington is located at a place called Bratton Castle about a mile west of the town of Bratton. There is a small town called Edington a few miles east of it which is where the battle got its name from. Presumably Bratton only grew up since Alfred's time. Now the reason that I keep saying supposedly is because historians aren't sure that this is where it took place. The battle was called Ethandun in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and it doesn't get any more specific than that. There are several Edingtons including one in Wiltshire and one in Somerset. This is the Somerset one while the Wiltshire one is generally the one listed as the site of the battle. Still, this hill is pretty impressive and would have made an excellent Viking fort. It's protected by cliffs on two sides and from there they could see any attempts by the Saxons to forage and deal with them appropriately. It's also rather closer to Athelnay which is why I rather favor it. Edington was more of a siege than a battle althought the Vikings did come out to fight at one point. This would have been the best place for miles around to put a fort. The local area is fairly flat.
The view from Edington is extraordinary. If this was where Guthrum chose to fight he picked a damned good spot. The site is an abandoned Iron Age hill fort with the defensive ditches built around it covers about half a mile. It actually seems rather large for Guthrum's army which must have been in the low thousands. If you're trying to find Edington remember that it's called Bratton Castle. You can go up there from just to the west of Bratton itself. Many of the roads around Bratton are one lane so be careful you get the right one. The road looks like it just goes into the fields but once you get to the top there's a nice park with good wind for kite flying.
This rock here is the only memorial to the most decisive battle in English history. It was only put up a few years ago and is located in the middle of the sheep field where it is difficult to spot and access. In the 1600s the locals created a rather different memorial by carving a white horse into the side of the mountain. They believed that this was the traditional Saxon way of marking victories over pagans and considered the omission of Edington to be an oversight... It is visible for miles around and you can actually walk above it although they've covered it with concrete now to prevent people damaging it while climbing on it. The white horse is the easiest way to locate the place if you're coming at Bratton from the west. It's pretty cool regardless of where the battle was.
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