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TheBattle of Aclea occurred in 851 between theWest Saxons led byÆthelwulf, King of Wessex and theDanishVikings at an unidentified location in England (noted by near-contemporaries as being inSurrey). It resulted in a West Saxon victory.

Little is known about the battle and the most important source of information comes from theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle which recorded that:

three and a half hundred ships came into the mouth of theThames and stormedCanterbury andLondon and put to flightBeorhtwulf, King of Mercia with his army, and then went south over the Thames into Surrey and King Æthelwulf and his sonÆthelbald with the West Saxon army fought against them at Aclea, and there made the greatest slaughter of a heathen raiding-army that we have heard tell of up to the present day, and there took the victory."^[1]

Aclea means Oak Field, asAsser explained. This could survive as Oakley or Ockley.Ockley is a village in Surrey that could potentially be a location for the battle, though the area known as Surrey has changed considerably in size and shape over the centuries. If the Vikings followedStane Street (Chichester) south from London Bridge, which was then the only crossing over the Thames into the area covered by modern-day Surrey, they would have come to a gap in theNorth Downs and passed through in the direction ofDorking. If the West Saxons were coming north along Stane Street then they could have met at Ockley.^{[original research?]}

Oakley, Hampshire is another potential location for the battle. Asser defines Surrey, rather vaguely, as "a district which is situated on the southern bank of the River Thames, to the West of Kent" - theRiver Thames running all the way from the east coast of England to west of Swindon. Though located within the modern-day borders of the county of Hampshire, rather than in Surrey, there is evidence to suggest that a now-forgotten battle had taken place near Oakley at some point, including numerous tumuli and several early medieval skeletons buried underneath the floor of a local church. Anglo-Saxon jewellery associated withÆthelwulf has also been found only a few miles south-west of the village.^[2]

2. Blunt, C.E and R.H.M. Dolley (1958).The Hoard Evidence for the Coins of Alfred. British Numismatic Journal, 1958.

3. Bidder, H.F. and J. Morris (1959).The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Mitcham.Mitcham Surrey Archaeological Collections, volume 56, p. 51-131.

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