11. The Vikings
The Heathen Host
The thunderbolt that hit Lindisfarne in 793 was the start of the Viking age. England was now a Christian country and the Vikings were branded as ruthless, wrathful, foreign, purely pagan people. The Great Heathen Host.
The invading armies were led by three formidable Vikings; Halfden of the Wide Embrace, Ubbi, and Ivor the Boneless. They took York, unopposed, on All Saints Day 1st November 866.
The Scandinavian partition and settlement of Mercia began in 877. Mercia was the biggest area of all the Anglo Saxon kingdoms of which there were seven in total. By 919 Mercia had been reconquered for the English, so the Scandinavian settlements in the Harley area of the country can be dated between 877 and 919. There were scattered Viking settlements all over Mercia.
The Scandinavians did not produce any different kind of village layout, but many new village communities were established. There was however a great intensification of the work of forest clearance in districts still relatively untouched by the Old English (Saxons).
The Anglo Saxons and the Vikings fought unending battles until a stalemate and truce were declared. By 849, King Alfred was still repelling Viking raids. The Viking age came to an end in 1066, with the Norman invasion and the battle of Hastings.
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle records sporadic Viking attacks from the late 9th century to the early 10th century.
There is no record of Viking activity affecting Harley – it is left to our wider knowledge of the Vikings to imagine the influence on the village and its surroundings.