KINGS DYKE

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A battle is said to have taken place at Bedford in 571. Bedford's position on the Saxon/Norse frontier meant that it was frequently involved in conflict between the English and Danes in the 10th and 11th centuries. In 919, Edward the Elder recaptured the burh from the Danes and ordered the construction of a second burh on the south side of the river. The fortifications are still to be seen as a water filled ditch, known as the King's Ditch, although the western part has now been built over. The town was captured and burned by the Danes in 1010. Excavations have revealed evidence for late Saxon and early medieval occupation.

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(TL 05184912 - TL 05424948) King's Ditch (NAT) (1)

(Area centred: TL 050496). The town of Bedford is known to have its origins in Anglo-Saxon times, but the date of its founding and its early history is obscure. The earliest undoubted reference to it is in the treaty of 877 between Alfred and Guthrun in which Bedford was situated on the boundary between the English and Danish territories (3,10). A reference in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to a battle at `Bedcanford' in 571 in which Cuthwulf of Wessex captured large parts of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, is now considered not to refer to Bedford (9).

Bedford's position on the frontier meant that it was frequently
involved in conflict between the English and the Danes in the 10th and 11th centuries. In 919, Edward the Elder recaptured the burh from the Danes, and ordered the construction of a second burh on the south side of the river (7,8,11). The fortifications are still to be seen as a water-filled ditch known, as the King's Ditch (2,4), although the western part has been built over in recent years. The town was captured and burned by the Danes in 1010 (2).
Anglo-Saxon finds have frequently been made in the town, and St Mary's Church (TL 04 NE 55) and St Peter's Church (TL 05 SE 8) have Saxon or Saxo-Norman origins. (For other Anglo-Saxon sites in Bedford, see TL 04 NW 28, 44, TL 04 NE 21, 29, 56, 59; TL 05 SE 8). (2-11)

Rescue excavations in 1974 opposite St John's church (TL 05194921) located at least two late Saxon buildings with St Neots, Stamford and local pottery. (12)

Rescue excavations at Nos.18-24 St John's Street (TL 05154930) located a Saxo-Norman timber building on a street front site. The building was of at least two phases and yielded a considerable quantity of St Neots ware. (13)

A section across the bank inside the Kings Ditch in the south-east part of the town indicated a primary Norman date rather than the traditional early 10th century context of Edward the Elder's burh construction. It may have functioned as a flood-prevention earthwork, and was heightened several times in the Medieval period. (14)

TL 052493. Trial excavations produced several pits with St Neots and early medieval pottery, but no early structures were identified. (15)

Full report of St John's Street excavations (16) and Cauldwell
Street excavations (17). (16,17)

Crawley and freeman suggest that Bedford's town plan north of the river owes its origins to an Alfredian burh. Theye highlight four points in support of their hypothesis:

The name Aldermanbury is found in an urban context at London and Bedford, but no other town;

The boundary set up between Alfred and Guthrum shows an otherwise unexplained diversion north to Bedfordaway from its general north-west to south-east diagonal;

There is a close parallel between the street plan of Bedford and other known Alfredian burhs;
The length of the perimeter of Bedford's northern burh and the hidage of Bedfordshire agrees with the specification for defensive garrisons laid down in the burghal Hidage. (18)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:1250 1975

( 2) edited by H Arthur Doubleday and William Page 1904 The Victoria History of the county of Bedford, volume one

The Victoria history of the counties of England 1904 Page(s)280-1

( 3) edited by William Page 1912 The Victoria History of the county Bedford : volume III

The Victoria history of the counties of England 1912 Page(s)1-2

( 4) General reference

Ewks of Beds 1920 61-3 plan illust (B Wadmore)

( 5) General reference

Beds Arch'st 1955 5-8 plan (F W Kuhlicke)

( 6) by Hilary L Turner 1971 Town defences in England and Wales: an architectural and documentary study AD 900-1500

1971 Page(s)124

( 7) General reference

Arch AS eng 1976 135-7 409 (D M Wilson)

( 8) General reference

Arch & the Landscape 1972 (ed P Fowler) 224 (J Dyer)

( 9) General reference

EPNS Beds & Hants 1926 11 (A Mawer & F M Stenton)

(10) Anglo-Saxon England

1971 Page(s)260

(11) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

(D Hill) 5 - 1970 Page(s)96-100

(12) Council for British Archaeology Group 9: South Midlands archaeology newsletter

(J Hassall) 1975 Page(s)24

(13) Kenneth McLeish 1972 Aspects of Greek life : Greek exploration and seafaring

7 - 1977 Page(s)17

(14) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

(D H Kennett) 7 - 1972 Page(s)89

(15) Medieval archaeology : journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology

(D M Wilson & D G Hurst) 12 - 1968 Page(s)155

(16) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

(J Hassall) 13 - 1979 Page(s)97-126

(17) Bedfordshire Archaeological Society Bedfordshire archaeological journal

(E Baker & A Simco) 13 - 1979 Page(s)65-78

(18) Bedfordshire archaeology

24,2001 Page(s)40-46

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Medieval and Post Medieval town. The town grew from two burh settlements on either bank of the Great Ouse and was the capital of the shire by 1011. A ...

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