Over a thousand years ago, England as we know it today was nothing more than a dream. Seven Kingdoms fought for control of the land: battles were won and lost, borders shifted to and fro, and the balance of power swung back and forth. The fields of Oxfordshire were often the front line, as rival factions scrambled for control of the all-important Ridgeway, an ancient trackway that linked the Thames with several hillforts (ancient strongholds) and important religious sites, as well as forming part of a network of paths that stretched from the Dorset coast to the Wash.
Throughout the eighth century, the Kingdom of Mercia was dominant, stretching its control through much of southern England and pushing its rivals back to the fringes of its land. Mercia’s crowning glory was the construction of Offa’s Dyke, a great earthwork stretching for much of the length of the border between England and Wales. After Offa’s death in 796, however, Mercia’s power began to wane as the Kingdom of Wessex grew in power, building from its power base in the south-west.
In 825, the two Kingdoms fought their greatest and most decisive battle, at Ellandun, where Egbert of Wessex defeated Beornwulf of Mercia, ending the Mercian Supremacy and establishing Wessex as the most powerful of the Seven Kingdoms – a position which it retained through the next 200 years, until the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings in 1066.