Westbury White Horse Trip - Battle of Ethandun

We had great fun learning outside the classroom the Westbury White Horse on Monday. This trip was linked to our History topic of the Battle of Ethandun. We were inquisitive historians. We asked and answered questions about why the hill would be a good place for a battle camp. We deduced that you can see far away from the top of the hill. This means that if anyone was about to attack, you would see them coming. It is also a good place to be because any attacking armies would have to struggle up the hill to get to you, whereas it it much easier to charge from the top. We also thought about the drawbacks to setting up a battle camp in this environment. We discovered that it is harder to be self sufficient at the hop of a hill, and that armies would have to make lots of tiring journeys up and down for food and water. 

We looked at the directions that Guthrum and the Vikings were possibly camping when King Alfred and the Anglo-Saxons were at the top of the hill. We noted how they moved from Chippenham to Warminster before the Battle of Ethandun. 

Looking at the terrain, we discovered that people would have had different jobs before the battle. King Alfred and the Anglo-Saxons were much more organised than the Vikings. Some people would have been look-outs at the top of the hill, some people would have been ready to defend their land, and everyone else would have rested and taken cover in the dips of the hill. 

Using cardboard shields, we reenacted the battle. We demonstrated how the Anglo-Saxons organised themselves into a shield wall to protect themselves.