At the Beginning of the Year in Englefield

Much like Englefield House and its 16th-century owners, not much is known about the history of the parish of Englefield, much of which lies within the Benyon family estate. Yes, two battles took place here – firstly a bloody battle in September 1643 during the Civil War, the site of which is now known as Deadman’s Lane. The other was in Anglo-Saxon times – the battle of Englefield – which I will come to in a moment.

The parish of Englefield

But perhaps the most special thing about Englefield is that it has its visual origins in the 19th century (apart from the 18th century St Mark’s Church and, of course, Englefield House) – and that this appearance has not changed with industrialisation and urbanisation, as has happened in many places. This is because the enclosure of Englefield began early, by private agreement, and there were many farms in different ownerships. In 1846 there were still about 13 other small landowners in the parish.

As a result, the parish of Englefield is now a tourist attraction without being overcrowded. There is only one road into Englefield, which leads straight to Englefield House. If you drive out of the village, you have to take the same road back. A visit to the local shop and tea room is highly recommended.

You could say that Englefield is much the same as it was 150 years ago, but that’s not quite true: ‚For all that, Englefield has not stood still, preserved in aspic, as are some of the more famous ‚chocolate-box’ tourist attractions.Model village it may be: but it is a working model, an estate with the village its active centre providing jobs, houses and an orderly social structure‘. ‚New housing has been built in the late 20th and early 21st century, but of an appropriate scale and design and tastefully blended into what was there before‘.

The town of Englefield has had several name variations and it is still not entirely clear where the name comes from: from ‚Angel‘ or ‚English‘? We can now rule out a 19th century hypothesis that the syllable ‚Ingle‘ was the Old Saxon word for fire. (Englefield is recorded in the Domesday Book as ‚Inglefelle‘ and in the 18th/19th century it bears this prefix (again) as Englefeud. In fact, ‚Ingle’ is not an Old Saxon word, but derives from Scottish Gaelic in the 16th century. However, this was not known in the 19th century and it was thought that the place was named after a battle between Anglo-Saxons and Danish Vikings. This was because of the fire beacons that were lit on the hill to warn of the approaching Danes in 870 – presumably a bit like David Heartley-Reade, who stood on a Saxon burial mound at Midsomer Barrow at Summer Solitice and sent a burning arrow towards the rising sun to save his marriage.

The Battle of Englefield

During the 9th century there were repeated invasions of Anglo-Saxon England by Norsemen, until finally in 865 a large army of several Danish Viking chieftains (“the Great Pagan Army”) landed in East Anglia to conquer the four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. They also entered the territory of the West Saxons. Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia were already Danish. On 28 December 870 they set up their main camp between the rivers Thames and Kennet.

The Battle of Englefield was the first of several battles fought between Christmas and Easter 870/871.

It is said to have taken place on a hill above the parish, just north of Englefield House. On the West Saxon side, Æthelwulf of Berkshire was the leader as Ealdorman of the county. On 31 December he waited in the area of future Englefield for marauding Danish raiders – and two Danish jarls (quasi earls) passed by. Despite being outnumbered, Æthelwulf attacked the Danes and took them by surprise. There were heavy losses on the Anglo-Saxon side and very heavy losses on the Danish side – including the death of one of the Jarls, Sidrac. The surviving Danes fled back to the main camp near Reading.

The surprise victory of the Anglo-Saxons gave them not only courage, but also arrogance. Three days later, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred attacked the Danish main camp. It was ultimately a bloody defeat for the West Saxons, costing the life of Æthelwulf among others.

Further battles followed, including the Battle of Ashdown, in which Alfred led the Saxon forces to victory, and the Battle of Basing, in which the Danes retained the upper hand. Ethelred died in the latter battle at the end of April 871. His brother Alfred took over the government and was later nicknamed ‘the Great’.

870 or 871? Both are correct.

Above I wrote: ‚The Battle of Englefield was the beginning of several battles between Christmas and Easter 870/871‘, but that is only half true, because historically both were in 871, because the year of the West Saxons began at Christmas – 25 December, not on 1 January. So the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is correct in dating the Battle of Englefield to 31 December 871, and today’s chronologies are correct in dating it to 31 December 870.

Starting the year on 25 December was a popular way of starting the year in medieval Europe, used in many countries and regions across the continent, and only became popular in modern times. (By the way: Our current beginning of the year on 1 January is no coincidence either, but the day of Jesus’ circumcision).

But there have been other beginnings of the year. And just as you have to change your watch to suit the time zone when you travel today, so the year could change when you travel. There were some small areas where the year began at Easter. This had two consequences: Since Easter is not a fixed day, the years were of different lengths. And: Easter could be 8 months before Christmas or 4 months after Christmas.

How bizarre this can be is shown by the beginning of the year on the day of the Annunciation. Although the year always began on 25 March, it was possible – as with the beginning of Easter – to start the year later or earlier. The two Tuscan cities of Florence and Pisa used this method of beginning the year. However, while in Florence the year began after the usual year elsewhere, in Pisa it began about eight months earlier. Florence and Pisa are only about 50 mi (almost 80 km) apart, but Pisa was always about a year ahead of Florence.

The beginning of the year is also the reason why our February has so few days. Our modern way of calculating the year and creating a calendar goes back to Julius Caesar, but back then the year started on 1 March.

The few days in February are simply the remaining days of the Roman year. This also explains why there is a Latin word for seven (septem) in September and for ten (decem) in December: When the beginning of the year was moved to 1 January, the counting of the months also shifted. In Caesar’s time, with March as the first month, they were actually the seventh and tenth months.

Back to England – and the start of the year

How has the beginning of the year changed here? To be honest, I have not been able to do much research on this and would be grateful if someone could verify or confirm this.

From 43 BC – c. 440 AD: 1 March (Roman beginning of the year)

c. 440 – sometime in the 9th century: Easter

Sometime in the 9th century to 1151: 25 December (Christmas)

1152-1752(!): 25 March (Lady Day)

Since 1753: 1 January (Circumcision of Jesus)

In 1753, England also adopted the Gregorian calendar, which is slightly more accurate than the Julian calendar. In the period from Julius Caesar to 1752, there had been a discrepancy of eleven days due to the miscalculation! Catholic countries had adopted the new calendar, named after Pope Gregory, as early as 1582, and other Christian countries – including the Angelican Church – slowly followed suit.

Further reading

Cheney, C. R.: A Handbook of Dates. Cambridge 1945.

Read more about Midsomer Murders & History

The Chronology of Midsomer County by Year or by Episodes • Deep Dives into Midsomer & History.

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