⚔ Battlefields of Britain

Battle of Benfleet 894

Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).

Key facts

Date (year)894Wikidata P585 point in time
Century9th centuryderived
PeriodEarly medieval, Anglo-Saxon & Vikingderived
CountryEnglandderived
ParticipantsKingdom of Wessex, VikingsWikidata

About the battle

The Battle of Benfleet was an 894 battle between the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons commanded by Edward the Elder and Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, the son and son-in-law of Alfred the Great respectively. The battle was part of a campaign started by the Vikings in 892 to raid and potentially occupy lands in England, having been defeated by the armies of France. As part of this campaign the invaders were supported by those Vikings who had settled in England following an earlier invasion launched in 865. The battle was a victory for the Anglo-Saxons who successfully captured a number of women and children, as well as capturing or destroying the Viking ships.

After their defeat the Vikings continued to raid England until they disbanded in 895 after being forced to abandon a series of camps. The rest of Alfred's reign was peaceful, and he was succeeded by Edward as King of Wessex in 899. In time Edward would become the ruler of Mercia, uniting the two kingdoms.

Visiting the battlefield

Location

  • Recorded location (Wikidata; may be approximate): 51.5500, 0.5600

Battlefields are often on private farmland: please keep to public rights of way and respect landowners.

Directions (Google Maps) OpenStreetMap

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Benfleet (revision 1370107663), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations removed. No text added.

Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).

Nearby battlefields

Browse more: battles in England · Early medieval, Anglo-Saxon & Viking · 9th century battles

Further reading