Battle of Stamford Bridge

Up and over the narrow hump-backed river crossing on the contraflow green light, sweep left into small market place and then a short incline before passing modern housing developments and that's it. 

The village of Stamford Bridge, some 8 miles to the east of York. 

Track back 954 years as of yesterday and the scene will have been starkly different. 

You will have been witness to the mayhem and horror of a pitched battle that contributed to one of the most significant changes in the history of England. 

It was a time of dispute over the right to be the Monarch in the void left by the death of Edward the Confessor. 

In the frame of succession were home based Harold Godwinson, the continental William of Normandy and Harold Hardrada the King of Norway. 

Harold Godwinson had already been crowned as rightful king but forces were beginning to form alliances against him. His own brother, the exiled Tostig, approached Hardrada and the two of them planned an invasion. 

After landing a force of 10000 Norwegians from 300 Longships on the north east coast they established a strong foothold in the effective capital city of York with a victory over the Northumbrian and Mercian army at Fulford on its outskirts. 

In order to save his fledgling rule the newly crowned Harold the Second assembled an army and made a forced march over the far from easy route from London up country, a distance of 190 miles on little more than cart tracks if any actual byways existed at all. 

His army was 10500 footmen and 2000 on horse strong and their swift deployment took the Viking army by surprise. 

I seem to remember a project sheet about the ensuing Battle of Stamford Bridge from way back in my junior school days. The images of a huge Scandi-Axe Man keeping Harold's men at bay on a narrow timber crossing point over the River Derwent are still deeply engrained in my 8 year old consciousness, such was the graphic detail of the art on the work card. 

What made the event even more memorable was the thought of one of Harold's soldiers floating along under the bridge and ramming a spear into an orifice with fatal consequences. 

This opened the battle out for Harold. Both Hardrada and Tostig were killed. Of course the victors write the history and although home casualties were not recorded the away team were reputed to have lost 8000. Only 24 Longships were required for the retreat across the North Sea. 

The actual battlefield site is still a matter of debate. The locating of a mass grave from clearance of the dead in excavations in the 18th century has never been validated. Any 11th Century timber bridge structure left no traces. There has been no meaningful trove of rusty relics thrown up by the plough or in the regular over-spilling of the Derwent.  

Even to this day there are a number of riverside meadows where the bloodbath is reputed to have taken place. That referred to as Battle Flatts is the front runner and a few of the residential streets in the village are named on the same theme. 

Harold may count himself fortunate in his rout of the invaders as it appears that an additional 5000 enemy troops were just 15 miles away keeping a watching guard over the fleet of longships. This will have been along the Ouse River which fed into the Humber Estuary.

The death of Hardrada is considered by historians to mark the end of the Viking Age. 

Of course, there was no time for an after party celebration for King Harold. Within a matter of days the arrival of William the Conqueror on the South Coast required his attention and another arduous route march and a third major confrontation in a matter of just over three weeks. 

As they say, the rest is history.