Did you know that Bakewell in the Peak District is where the idea of ‘England’ began?
This is a little-known story we’re particularly fond of, given we’ve been based in the wonderful market town of Bakewell for nearly 20 years.
Our story starts off in Anglo-Saxon times, around the time of the Vikings. We’re talking the early medieval period, around the turn of the 10th Century – about 500 years after the Romans and before the Norman invasion of 1066.
This was a time where most people lived in small villages, farmed the land and lived in wooden huts with thatched roofs. What we now consider England (such as it was at that time) was split into the various ancient kingdoms including Wessex, Essex, Mercia, and Northumbria. This was until the son of Alfred the Great, Edward the Elder, as King of Wessex, set about “uniting” the southern kingdoms – or, more accurately, taking them back from the Danes. In doing this, Edward the Elder established himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons.
How do we know all this? Because Edward’s father, Alfred the Great, had instructed the writing of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. And although it is highly unlikely to be an unbiased telling of events, it does provide us with a useful record of what happened during this time. Including a mention of when Edward set about fortifying the country, as a defence against pillaging Danish Vikings, with the building of a fort in Bakewell (c920 AD):
“Thence he went to Bakewell in Peakland and ordered a fort to be built as near as possible to it and manned”
This fort we know to be the Bakewell Burgh.
Bakewell, or Badeca’s well or spring, had been founded a few years before in 906 when Uhtred from Northumbria had bought the Peakland from the Danes. The church in Bakewell likely already existed, part of the Bishop of Middle Angles, based in Repton, to the south. The crosses outside this church date from before Uhtred’s time and the Danes had probably sacked this church more than once.
Most importantly, the Chronicles go on to state that sometime after the building of the burgh, perhaps four or five years later, Edward the Elder came to Bakewell to meet the kings of Scotland, Strathclyde, Northumbria, and York. And it is said they chose him for father (accepting Christian faith with Edward at its head) and for lord.
In other words, to be the lord over all kingdoms. Thus, establishing a single united England under one king.
This event in Bakewell (in the Peakland), effectively created the basis for “England” as an entity.
Now, of course, this information does come from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, with history written by the victors. So, to what extent the other kings genuinely “chose” Edward, we don’t know. Not least because some 12 years or so later, a northern alliance that included the king of the Scots and Strathclyde mounted a last-ditch attempt to de-throne Edward’s son, Athelstan, at the Battle of Brunanburgh. They failed, and in victory Athelstan cemented his claim as King of England.
Admittedly, there are a few gaps in the story. We don’t have evidence of the burgh, the fort that Edward ordered to be built in Bakewell. Nor do we have the location of the Battle of Brunanbrugh. The burgh could be located on the site of the Castle Hill fortification, which seemingly dates to the 12th Century, or it could be elsewhere, perhaps on the Bakewell show ground. Meanwhile, there are over 40 locations that have staked a claim to the Battle of Brunanburgh, with one of the most likely being in the nearby Hope Valley.
We hope to uncover these missing puzzle pieces one day.
However, based on the knowledge we do have, we can say that it was here in Bakewell where England was united as a Christian Kingdom some 1100 years ago. It is truly the birthplace of England.