Atherstone 'Maigret' Margaret Hughes: I'm turning detective on a clue trail to prove where Boudica made her last stand

WHAT WAS THE THINKING BEHIND THE PATHS DRAWING TWO GREAT HISTORICAL FIGURES TO THE PLACE OF THEIR FATEFUL ENGAGEMENT?

SECOND IN OUR SERIES PICKING A FIGHT TO PROVE HISTORY REALLY WAS MADE HERE AT MANCETTER

NUB News has decided to pick a fight with British history and join a Atherstone woman's quest in a male-dominated field to prove conclusively the staging of the most important battle in British history before Hastings.

Atherstone Civic Society secretary Margaret Hughes is seeking to prove Mancetter was "beyond doubt" the site of Queen Boudica's last stand in 60AD against the Romans which could have changed the course of our island narrative over the next 2,000 years.

Mrs Hughes has already pressed the case forcibly in her book Boudica at Mancetter , and sees the challenge – at 82 and "proud of it" – as the "only woman" fighting the corner against up to 10 other male candidates' claims identified by experts in terms of archaeological, archival and circumstantial evidence as well as military suitability.

Her theory goes wider than the straightforwardly martial focus of the other researchers.

In the second of a series of articles covering the subject and attempting to establish an undeniable bridgehead of evidence to show Mancetter is the 'genuine' claim to a conflagration that saw East Anglian Iceni tribe leader Boudica's army of 230,000 men, women and children without protective armour take on the 10,000-strong crack 14th Legion, led by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, she turns detective.

Last week I promised I'd come back to you with more evidence for Mancetter as the site of Boudica's courageous last stand.

So this week I want to give you a second chunk of clues, to go alongside last week's evidence from the old name, Manduessedum.

I'm putting forward the reasons that could have brought the Iceni queen here – right here – and somewhere close to the centre of England, to keep what turned out to be a date with death.

But bear with me if I hold off just long enough to sketch a bit of background.

• First, keep in mind that Mancetter is just one of at least 11 claims for this iconic battle-site. We're part of a small "club" of candidates and none of us as yet has any archaeological finds to prove our case. Mancetter is in a very interesting competition, as it were. Boudica's battlefield is one of those unsolved historical questions, such as what happened to the Princes in the Tower, who is the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's sonnets, or what happened on the Marie Celeste.

• Second, recall the facts that are known on the Boudica story. Her campaign was triggered by terrible Roman abuses upon her and her two daughters. She put together a vast force which tore through Colchester, London and St Albans in revenge. She met with very little resistance, catching the main Roman army on the hop, away fighting Druids taking refuge on Anglesey. Only after St. Albans did she meet up with Governor-General Paulinus and his crack Roman legions.

• Third, in setting out the Boudica At Mancetter theory, I am standing on the shoulders of Graham Webster. His 1978 book Boudica sets up the basic proposal. It was reprinted in 1993. Check it out if you're interested in exploring this particular unanswered question of history.

So, today's clue–trail starts with Paulinus on Anglesey, hearing, suddenly out of the blue, of a massive British uprising.

Boudica meanwhile had just laid waste to Colchester.

As said, she went on to ravage London – the town of Londinium looted, the inhabitants massacred and most of the settlement burned to the ground leaving a blanket of ash and burned timber – and then St Albans.

Then what? Well, alas, from that point all is hazy, until we come to the battle itself.

Instead we must try to solve a basic question: What was the thinking that made the paths that drew these two great historical figures to the place of their fateful engagement?

All we can do is rely on detective work.

NORTH OR SOUTH OF ST ALBANS?

There's a major split among historians as to whether the battle was north or south of St Albans. The answer turns on what we make of the recce Paulinus carried out on London after hearing the news about Boudica. Some believe he took his whole army with him. That's a rather cumbersome movement, but if true it suggests the battle took place somewhere south of the Midlands. On the other hand some think he paid Londoners only a swift visit with an elite band of men and sped back to rejoin his army. By which time his legions would be coming from Wales through into the Midlands. It's this short, sharp shop-around idea that leads to my Mancetter claim, based on a careful look at the language of the earliest Roman description of these events. If we work out the probable journeys that re-unite Paulinus and his army on the Watling Street close to Letocetum (today known as Wall), we find the timings fit. They put him 12 miles from Mancetter, with about a fortnight's time to rest-up his men before the slower-moving British mass hauls into view. That gives him time to drill his men in the tactics he's planning to use. BOUDICA HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO TRACK DOWN PAULINUS

Boudica must have felt the overwhelming driving force of simple, raw revenge, not only for the punishing treatment dealt to her and her daughters, but even more so for the wrongs of Roman domination.

We hear of her urging her people to show the Romans how they're as weak as hares in trying to rule Britons who are as fierce as dogs and wolves.

But in delivering that revenge – claiming as many as 70, 000 – she had come so far that turning back was impossible; she was obliged to face Paulinus.

Failure would demolish her future, and her people's future. No refuge remained back home.

She had to bring about that necessary meeting, and cling to the determination it would go her way. For her it really was now or never.

But we must also note her passion to protect Druid interests.

There is no doubt the Romans saw the Druids as the ruling class whom they had to crush.

It is probable that Boudica herself was a Druid priestess.

There is the story – may be a legend – that before the final battle she used a kind of Druid prophecy by letting a hare escape from a fold of her dress.

We're told her troops yelled cheers when it ran out on her lucky side, with Boudica raising her hand to heaven in thanks.

Now, it is possible that Mancetter may well have been important to the Druids in more ways than one.

Therefore we should not dismiss it as an influence on her choice of route as she moved towards Paulinus.

Moreover, it may well have been an influence known to Paulinus, adding an extra reason to his calculations.

POWERFUL GOALS PULLING TOGETHER POWERFUL PEOPLE

Boudica came to the Mancetter site driven by a desire to bring to victory her campaign in defence of her native culture and lifeblood. Paulinus's keen military brain would have calculated the tactical advantages in a Midlands site. Such a spot would work well with the timetable of his London survey and his battle preparation. Furthermore, it is probable that Paulinus knew of a site with unique terrain to suit the tactics he planned. Perhaps he already knew what Mancetter had to offer him.

Margret Hughes

Details from this article are dealt with more carefully in the Atherstone Civic Society's publication Boudica At Mancetter, by Margaret Hughes, available from [email protected]

When present circumstances change it will also be available at the new Roman Mancetter & Boudica Heritage Centre at St Peter's Church, Mancetter, also at The Coffee Shop, 2A Church St., Atherstone

The next Nub News instalment of the Boudican battle-site conundrum will explore clues provided by the unique landscape of Mancetter's plain and the contours of the Hartshill Ridge.