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Archenfield
Archenfield (Old English: Ircingafeld, Middle English: "Irchenfield") is the historic English name for an area of southern and western Herefordshire in England. Since the Anglo-Saxons took over the region in the 8th century, it has stretched between the River Monnow and River Wye, but it derives from the once much larger Welsh kingdom of Ergyng.
The name Archenfield is derived from the older and larger Welsh kingdom of Ergyng (or Ercic), which in turn is believed to derive from the Roman town of Ariconium at Weston under Penyard. After the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain in 410 AD, new smaller political entities took the place of the centralised structure. King Peibio and his descendants were rulers of the area attested from about 555 AD until, in the middle of the 7th century, Onbraust of Ergyng married Meurig of Gwent and the two neighbouring kingdoms were combined. Saint Dubricius (known in Welsh as Dyfrig), a prince and bishop, was important in the sub-Roman establishment of the Christian church in the area. Ergyng eventually became a mere cantref, the Welsh equivalent of a hundred.
By the 8th century, the expanding power of Mercia led to conflict with the Welsh and by the beginning of the 9th century the western Mercians, who became known as the sub-kingdom of Magonsæte, had gained control over the area and nearby Hereford. During the rest of the century they moved its frontier southward to the banks of the Dore, the Worm Brook and a stream then known as the Taratur, annexing northern Ergyng. The sites of old British churches fell to Mercia, and the Britons became regarded as foreigners – or, in the Old English language, "Welsh" – in what had been their own land. The rump of Ergyng then became known to the English as Arcenefelde or Archenfield. There is no evidence that Offa built his famous Dyke across the area, probably because it had already been assimilated into Mercia by the late 8th century.
Herefordshire Archaeology Record provides some context for the 9th century in the south of the county:
During the 9th century the Vikings were able to make incursions into the south of Herefordshire by sailing up the Severn and Wye rivers. Between AD 866 and 874 King Burgred of Mercia was involved in almost constant battles with the Vikings. By 877 the Vikings were in the position of being able to establish one of their own client leaders, Ceolwulf, as king.
In the 870s Viking raids continued in the area, while Wessex was ruled by Alfred the Great and Mercia by Ceolwulf II. In 2015, a large hoard of buried treasure was found in a field near Leominster, consisting mainly of Saxon jewellery and silver ingots, with two remarkable silver pennies, previously-unknown "two emperor" coins showing the heads of both Alfred and Ceowulf and dating to around 879. The find hints at an alliance between the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia. Gareth Williams, curator of early medieval coins at the British Museum, commented in 2019 "These coins enable us to re-interpret our history at a key moment in the creation of England as a single kingdom". The treasure was found by two metal detectors operating outside the law, and they were convicted.
A ravaging of Archenfield by the Danes in 905 is reported in the 1870-72 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales:
IRCHINGFIELD, or ARCHENFIELD, a quondam liberty and a rural deanery in the S of Hereford. The liberty was known to the ancient Welsh as Urging, to the Saxons as Ircingafeld, and at Domesday as Arcenfelde; was ravaged in 905 by the Danes, and given afterwards, by the Crown, to the Earls of Shrewsbury; and had the custom of gavelkind, and some other peculiar customs.
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Archenfield
Archenfield (Old English: Ircingafeld, Middle English: "Irchenfield") is the historic English name for an area of southern and western Herefordshire in England. Since the Anglo-Saxons took over the region in the 8th century, it has stretched between the River Monnow and River Wye, but it derives from the once much larger Welsh kingdom of Ergyng.
The name Archenfield is derived from the older and larger Welsh kingdom of Ergyng (or Ercic), which in turn is believed to derive from the Roman town of Ariconium at Weston under Penyard. After the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain in 410 AD, new smaller political entities took the place of the centralised structure. King Peibio and his descendants were rulers of the area attested from about 555 AD until, in the middle of the 7th century, Onbraust of Ergyng married Meurig of Gwent and the two neighbouring kingdoms were combined. Saint Dubricius (known in Welsh as Dyfrig), a prince and bishop, was important in the sub-Roman establishment of the Christian church in the area. Ergyng eventually became a mere cantref, the Welsh equivalent of a hundred.
By the 8th century, the expanding power of Mercia led to conflict with the Welsh and by the beginning of the 9th century the western Mercians, who became known as the sub-kingdom of Magonsæte, had gained control over the area and nearby Hereford. During the rest of the century they moved its frontier southward to the banks of the Dore, the Worm Brook and a stream then known as the Taratur, annexing northern Ergyng. The sites of old British churches fell to Mercia, and the Britons became regarded as foreigners – or, in the Old English language, "Welsh" – in what had been their own land. The rump of Ergyng then became known to the English as Arcenefelde or Archenfield. There is no evidence that Offa built his famous Dyke across the area, probably because it had already been assimilated into Mercia by the late 8th century.
Herefordshire Archaeology Record provides some context for the 9th century in the south of the county:
During the 9th century the Vikings were able to make incursions into the south of Herefordshire by sailing up the Severn and Wye rivers. Between AD 866 and 874 King Burgred of Mercia was involved in almost constant battles with the Vikings. By 877 the Vikings were in the position of being able to establish one of their own client leaders, Ceolwulf, as king.
In the 870s Viking raids continued in the area, while Wessex was ruled by Alfred the Great and Mercia by Ceolwulf II. In 2015, a large hoard of buried treasure was found in a field near Leominster, consisting mainly of Saxon jewellery and silver ingots, with two remarkable silver pennies, previously-unknown "two emperor" coins showing the heads of both Alfred and Ceowulf and dating to around 879. The find hints at an alliance between the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia. Gareth Williams, curator of early medieval coins at the British Museum, commented in 2019 "These coins enable us to re-interpret our history at a key moment in the creation of England as a single kingdom". The treasure was found by two metal detectors operating outside the law, and they were convicted.
A ravaging of Archenfield by the Danes in 905 is reported in the 1870-72 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales:
IRCHINGFIELD, or ARCHENFIELD, a quondam liberty and a rural deanery in the S of Hereford. The liberty was known to the ancient Welsh as Urging, to the Saxons as Ircingafeld, and at Domesday as Arcenfelde; was ravaged in 905 by the Danes, and given afterwards, by the Crown, to the Earls of Shrewsbury; and had the custom of gavelkind, and some other peculiar customs.
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