When they returned to the head of Alresford Creek, some half mile from Thorrington, the tide was half out, exposing a large mudflat that the men had to struggle through, up to their knees in thick black mud, to reach the shore. Sven had left four men on board with instructions to properly moor the ship when the tide returned. As he and Alan squelched their way home he commented, “Not bad. They’re improving and will give the Danes a run for their money. They’re farmers most of the year as well, not like us Norwegians. We had difficult conditions today and they didn’t do too badly. In good conditions the longbowmen and the ballista will be a real surprise for the Danes. Your men may not be as good as Vikings, but they are as good as the Danes!”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Thorrington July 1069
It was with a very strong sense of deja vu that Alan sat at the high-table in the Hall. Just after midnight on Friday 24th July, the eve of the Feast of St James the Apostle, he had been roused by a messenger from the lookout at the mouth of Barfleet Creek and informed that a number of longships had approached the village of Brightlingsea in the moonlight several hours before. ‘At least ten ships’ probably meant that the lookout hadn’t bothered to take off his boots to be able to more accurately count the raiders. As well as nearly sixteen hours of sunlight each day, there was a full moon and calm weather- excellent raiding conditions.
Riders had been dispatched along the roads to the west, north-west, north, north-east and east. The glow of fires against the night sky from Brightlingsea showed there was no need to send a rider in that direction. Alan hoped that Edsel, the King’s Reeve of Brightlingsea, was still alive and had learnt the lesson of his refusal to participate in the collective defense efforts undertaken by the others in the Hundred. Alan tried his best to snatch moments of sleep as messengers hurried to and fro, Huscarle Brand dealing with most of the minor matters. He heard reports of fires to the south-east, almost certainly the village of St Osyth. Anne. The servants of the Hall were kept busy providing food, drink and straw palliasses to the arriving messengers.
First light was due at about four in the morning. By three in the morning over 400 men were gathered at Thorrington, having come as far as fifteen miles from Dovercourt and Cliff to the north and Frinton in the east. Not only the men of Alan’s own manors had mustered, but also those of the other thegns including Engelric’s man Leax, the thegn of Birch Hall to the north-east. Leofstan mentioned that he had ridden through Great Clacton on the way and that the inhabitants were hurriedly organising defences, not unreasonable since they were the next village to the east after St Osyth.
Mounted scouts had been dispatched and reported back that there were seventeen longships in Barfleet Creek near Brightlingsea, less than two miles from Thorrington. Alresford and Wivenhoe to the west reported no ships in sight. This was a favourable report, but given that the longships could move so quickly and loom unheralded out of the sea-haze, not necessarily to be relied on. Seventeen ships meant probably nigh on 800 hundred men. Alan was certain that once again their main target would be Colchester, which meant that the Danes had to pass Wivenhoe. The village was now much more strongly held than two years previously, as it belonged to Anne and both time and money had been lavished on fortifications and equipment since the last raid. The men of Wivenhoe and Alresford had been instructed to remain with their villages but to adopt defensive positions, armed and ready as required.
At first light Alan rode out on a rouncey together with half a dozen scouts towards Barfleet Creek. The creek was a shallow tidal inlet that wandered north and west from the sea and whose headwaters were a mile south-east of Thorrington. The land was flat, low-lying and, until close to the village, soft and marshy despite the recent lack of rain. The Danish longships were drawn up on the west bank of the creek just north of the village of Brightlingsea. A quick count confirmed they were in fact seventeen in number. A haze of smoke hung over the village and a number of charred ruins could be seen, including several outlying farmhouses. Alan’s manor of Great Bentley was on the east side of the creek and appeared deserted, in accordance with his instructions. The stables of the horse stud lay empty, the horses being led to safety inland. Also empty were the byres and pig-pens, with the cattle and swine also having been driven away. The people were either with their livestock in woods several miles north or at the apparent safety of Thorrington. Alan hoped that the Danes would be satisfied to loot what they could from the empty village and not put it to the torch.
Several Danish scouts could be seen moving through the area on horseback, presumably on steeds seized at Brightlingsea that night. A large number of men were clustered around cooking fires on the shore near the ships or moving through the village. Alan presumed that he could only see a small part of the Danish force and that many others would be resting in the village or on the ships after their exertions in the night attack.
Alan had expected and hoped that the Danes would board their ships and move on to Colchester, just a few miles up the estuary. However, from the relaxed atmosphere of the camp in front of him, it appeared that a move to attack the city was not an immediate concern for the invaders- which meant that Thorrington could expect a visit later that day.
The villages were some two miles apart, the road running virtually north-south along a narrow patch of relatively firm ground between the salt-marshes at the head of the Alresford Creek to the west and Barfleet Creek to the east. There was another route along the west bank of Barfleet Creek, but given the swampy nature of the ground no commander would use that when a suitable alternative was available.
Alan discounted the possibility of the Danes boarding their ships to travel the mile or so to the head of Barfleet Creek. The effort involved, the need to wait for the flood tide which would not be until evening and the requirement to disembark across a mudflat while under attack by archers would not appeal to any leader. At a point a little less than a mile south of the village of Thorrington the road that the Danes would take skirted a marsh to the east of Alresford Creek. At that point was a large stand of trees and tangled undergrowth that continued east through to the salt-marsh that ran on the west side of Barfleet Creek, and which left a clear area near the road only 150 paces or so wide. It was at this natural choke-point that Alan intended his men to make a stand.
Without further delay he dispatched 100 men to hold the chosen battlefield and archers and horsemen to drive away the Danish scouts so that preparations could be made without observation by prying eyes. He also ordered to sea his own two longships, currently in Alresford Creek just to the west of Thorrington, so as not to be detected and with instructions to maintain contact and await further orders. The ships had been stripped of their archers and half of their oarsmen as the extra sixty trained men may make all the difference in the battle that would be decided on land. Alan was by no means sanguine as to the outcome, knowing he was on the wrong side of two to one numbers, and he was troubled by the fact that his wife and child would be in his house no more than a mile from his back.