In Boudica's footsteps
St Albans to Mancetter
Having
left Londinium to its fate, Suetonius Paulinus, the Roman governor, eventually
accumulated 10,000 infantry – hardly equal to the 200,000 rebels
that he would have to face. So finding a suitable battlefield that would
aid his outnumbered soldiers was particularly important to him.
Exactly where this was is still debated by historians. However, one compelling theory makes Mancetter, a village near Atherstone in Warwickshire, the most likely.
First, it is believed that this is where Paulinus's troops (coming from Anglesey) and the rebels (coming from Verulamium) would have met, given the respective speeds of their progress. Mancetter – whose name means 'the place of chariots' – was the site of a Roman fort on Watling Street, the major Roman road that stretched from London to Anglesey. Both sides would have utilised this road to reach each other quickly.
View of the battlefield:
from the Roman side
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Second, this area matches a description given by Tacitus. He wrote that Paulinus's position was 'in a defile with a wood behind him'. This placed him at the top of an incline, in keeping with standard Roman battle tactics, and with forest on one side, which meant that he would have to face the enemy from only one direction. An area near the village of Mancetter, on the Warwickshire/Leicestershire border, matches this description extremely well.
View
of the battlefield:
from the Britons' side
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image
At this location, there is also a flat plain, which would play an important
part in the events that followed. The rebels were full of their previous
victories, and thought that this encounter would be more of the same.
So they assembled – on the plain – as many spectators as
possible. In addition, they wanted to keep an eye on the plunder they
had so far amassed, so they placed their wagons next to the crowd.
It must have been quite a sight to the Roman soldiers perched on top of
the slope. The Roman historian Tacitus Paulinus tried to raise their spirits
and morale with an impassioned speech:
There you see more women than warriors. Unwarlike, unarmed, they will give way the moment they have recognised that sword and that courage of their conquerors, which have so often routed them. Even among many legions, it is a few who really decide the battle, and it will enhance their glory that a small force should earn the renown of an entire army.
In her speech to her followers, Boudica echoed Paulinus's reference to women, but in a far different way:
It is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters. Roman lust has gone so far that not our very person, nor even age or virginity, are left unpolluted. But heaven is on the side of a righteous vengeance; a legion that dared to fight has perished; the rest are hiding themselves in their camp, or are thinking anxiously of flight. They will not sustain even the din and the shout of so many thousands, much less our charge and our blows. If you weigh well the strength of the armies, and the causes of the war, you will see that, in this battle, you must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves.
Then the Britons charged. Some historians believe that they would have
advanced to the west of the river Anker, which runs through the middle
of the plain, following the path of the modern-day railway line.
The river Anker runs through
the battlefield
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image
The Romans unleashed their javelins down the slope. Then their infantry, moving as one unit, charged. This broke the British advance and forced them back towards the wagons. The Roman cavalry joined the battle, coming in from each side and encircling the British. At the rear of the battlefield, the British families sat by the wagons, helplessly watching the slaughter. When the legionnaires reached the makeshift camp, they killed every man, woman and child they could reach. At the end of the day, some 80,000 Britons had been slaughtered, and only 400 Romans had died.
It is said that Boudica herself survived the last battle and fled back to Iceni territory. There she poisoned herself. Not for her the prospect of being paraded through the streets of Rome in chains as Suetonius Paulinus enjoyed his triumph.
The Romans would never face another serious rebellion in Britain.
What you can see
Mancetter battlefield
This is only one of a number of locations that have been suggested
by historians for the site of the Britons' defeat – Rugby, Staines
and Tring are three others – but it is one of the most likely.
To the south-east of Atherstone, Warwickshire, between the A5 (which
follows the line of the Roman Watling Street) and the Hartshill Ridge.
Atherstone is also on the London Euston/Glasgow railway line.
Lunt Fort
www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/features
/days-out/lunt-fort.shtml
The entrance to Lunt Roman
Fort
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image
The base for the 14th Legion before they left to fight in Wales. This
is a partial reconstruction of the fort established here in AD 64 following
the Boudican rebellion. Historians have suggested that, while the 14th
were in East Anglia punishing the Iceni and Trinovantes for three years
after the revolt, the fort was built with a gyras to house and
train the horses that the Romans took from the tribes.
Coventry Road, Baginton, Warwickshire, off the A45 and A46.
King's Cross Station, London
There is no truth to the legend that Boudica is buried under Platforms
10/11 at King's Cross.
