This week, Dan Snow’s internet platform History Hit broke exciting news: Wirral Archaeology have gathered new evidence that may help to resolve the long-running debate about the location of the battle of Brunanburh (937).

The battle saw King Athelstan win a hard-fought victory over an alliance made up of various parties: Óláfr Guðrøðsson, who dominated Dublin and other Hiberno-Scandinavian settlements, King Constantín of Alba (the Scottish kingdom) and Owain, king of Strathclyde/Cumbria.

Dr Fiona Edmonds of Lancaster University’s Department of History played a role in the resulting documentary and podcast, contextualising the battle in the fast-moving politics of tenth-century Britain and Ireland.

Dr Edmonds said: ‘Brunanburh was the epic battle of the tenth century in Britain and it was very significant for several reasons. Many of the key political players of the time were involved … Brunanburh encapsulates the turmoil of the Viking Age and points the way to the future. Really what’s at stake here is control of what we now know as northern England, but there was not necessarily any inevitability about where that large swathe of territory would end up politically.’

The documentary is available on www.historyhit.com and the Podcast can be accessed here.