On this day in Wembury — 5 August 851

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a force of Devon men under Ealdorman Ceorle fought and defeated a “heathen army” at a place recorded as Wemburg. Many later historians and antiquarians believe this name refers to Wembury, making it the earliest known battle linked with the parish.

The Chronicle gives no exact date, but the engagement is thought to have taken place in summer, during the height of Viking raiding activity in the West Country. Ceorle’s men reportedly inflicted “great slaughter” and drove the Danes back to their ships, securing a rare local victory in a century otherwise marked by repeated incursions.

The connection with Wembury rests on both linguistic similarity—Wemburg being an Old English form possibly meaning “Wicga’s hill” or “Wembury”—and on geography, since the Chronicle specifically mentions the “men of Devon.” The battle was long remembered in regional tradition, and by the Victorian era some writers suggested that St Werburgh’s Church may have been built upon, or near, the site to commemorate the victory, though there is no documentary proof of that.

Whether or not the fight truly took place on the cliffs above the Mewstone, the 851 entry marks the earliest historical appearance of Wembury’s name, placing the village firmly within the story of early Anglo-Saxon England.

(Source: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, year 851; later identifications by local historians including the Western Morning News, 12 August 1885.)