Possible Site Of Battle Of Maeserfelth

• HER Number (PRN): 04286
• Site Name : Possible Site Of Battle Of Maeserfelth
• Monument Type:
  • Battlefield (Early Saxon to Mid Saxon)
• Civil Parish:
  • Oswestry , Oswestry, Shropshire
• Grid Reference: SJ 286 294
• Related Monuments:
  • St Oswalds Well , Maserfield (south side), Oswestry, 00335
• Related Interventions:
  • 2013 WB at Oswestry School Sports Pitch, Upper Brook Street, Oswestry by CPAT, ESA6958
• Brief Description: The possible site of the battle of Maeserfleth, fought in 642 AD between Oswald, the Christian King of Northumbria, and Penda, the pagan ruler of Mercia. The site remains conjectural and disputed.
• Description: Traditional site of the Battle of Maeserfelth, 642 AD <1>
  
  The battle of Maserfelth was fought in 642 between Oswald, King of Northumbria, and Penda, ruler of Mercia. The battle ended in the martyrdom of Oswald, and the site of the battle has long been identified at Oswestry [<1><3>]. Although the battle site of Maserfelth was certainly identified with Oswestry in the medieval period, Gelling [<4><5>] has pointed out that the placename evidence is far from conclusive. There are at least two other claimed sites for the battle of Maserfelth, in Gloucestershire and in Lancashire, and the identification of Oswestry as the site may be due to a medieval confusion between Maserfelth and Meresberie [Maesbury, S of Oswestry] and a mis-translation of Oswaldestre as "Oswald's Cross" [<4><5>]. However, the discounting of the claim that the battle took place near Oswestry is not universally accepted [<6>] <2>
  
  Essay contradicting Gelling's arguments [<4><5>] <7>
  
  Note prepared for a public inquiry on a threat to the Winwick alledged battle site includes a short section summarising the arguments relating to the location of the battle site, including tradition, etymology, and political and military context. <8>
  
  A watching brief was undertaken on a development site at Maes y Llan (meaning 'church field' in Welsh) which is held locally to be the site of the battle, although Mike Watson's analysis (<6>) places it some c. 250m to the N. No artefactual remains were recovered during the watching brief. Consequently there is no further evidence to qualify the area as the possible site of the battle of Maeserfleth, fought in 642 between Oswald, the Christian King of Northumbria, and Penda, the pagan ruler of Mercia. <9>
• Record Type: Monument
• Sources:

  (00)	Card index: Shropshire County Council SMR. SMR Sheets Collection. SMR record sheets. SMR Sheet for PRN SA 04286.
  (01)	Monograph: Watkin I. 1920. Oswestry with an Account of its Old Houses, Shops, etc, and Some of their Occupants. p42, p44, p62.
  (02)	Historic landscape survey report: Dalwood Hal et al. 1996. Archaeological Assessment of Oswestry, Shropshire (CMHTS). Hereford & Worcester CAS Rep. Rep 333. p5.
  (03)	Monograph: Eyton R W. 1854/ 1860. Antiquities of Shropshire. Vol 10. p317-318.
  (04)	Monograph: Gelling M. 1990. The major names of Shropshire. The Place Names of Shropshire. Vol 1. p229-231.
  (05)	Monograph: Gelling M. 1992. The West Midlands in the Early Middle Ages. Studies in the Early History of Britain . p74-75.
  (06)	VERBAL COMMUNICATION: Watson Michael D. 1996. Comment, 1996.
  (07)	Article in monograph: Stancliffe C. 1995 ca. Where was Oswald Killed?. Oswald - Northumbrian King to European Saint. Stancliffe & Cambridge, E.
  (08)	Manuscript: Sargeant P. 2001. Squaring the Maserfelth Conundrum.
  (09)	Watching brief report: Grant I. 2013. Oswestry School Sports Pitch, Shropshire: archaeological watching brief. CPAT Rep. 1208.

• Tags:
  • Battlefield
• Related Places:
  • Oswestry, Oswestry, Shropshire (Civil Parish)
• For more information contact: Shropshire Council HER
• Date Created: 08/06/1987
• Date Last Edited: 08/03/2016 09:43:06