Sponsored by
The death of King Penda
Read about the legend of King Penda and his Cross Gates connections.
In the 1940s a new housing estate emerged to the east of Cross Gates, built and owned by one of Britain's first women builders, Gertrude Bray.
At its planning stages she did a bit of local history research in order to find a suitable name for the streets and the estate itself and chanced upon the legend of the Dark Ages king who was alleged to have died at a battle in the area, King Penda of Mercia.
Hence the naming of Penda's Way and the Penda's Estate. But the new residents of the estate were not so amused when they discovered that this King Penda was a bloodthirsty heathen, who worshipped the pagan god Woden and who believed that after death would enter Valhalla, the hall of Heroes.
Penda, in fact, was the last of his kind but just who was he and why did he supposedly die here?
For most of the period between the end of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and the fatal year 1066, England was divided into warring territories ruled over by warrior-kings whose only preoccupation in life was to acquire land and wealth for their soldiers and leading citizens.
At one stage there were as many kingdoms as there are now counties, but eventually this figure was reduced to a handful of regional kingdoms; Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Kent and Wessex.
All of these kingdoms were ruled by Anglo-Saxon warlords who were heathen worshippers of the pagan gods Woden, Thor, Tiw and Freya, and whose festivals of Eostre and Yule were the highlight of the year.
The influence of this period on English culture can never be overstressed as the four gods mentioned give us the names of our weekdays Wednesday, Thursday, Tuesday and Friday, and the festivals give us our most important holiday periods of Easter and Xmas (when you can eat a Yule log!).
The battle for supremacy over all Britain was fought out between Northumbria (literally the people north of the Humber) and Mercia, the latter territory stretching from present day South Yorkshire to Wiltshire, and it also included London within its borders.
By the middle of the 7th century King Penda of Mercia was supreme, having personally slain at least six kings (dismembering one King of Northumbria in a blood sacrifice to Woden).
But following the hard work of Irish monks in the north, an added factor to the territorial challenges of this period was the cultural war that was also being waged, between the newly converted Christian Northumbrians and the old fashioned heathens of Mercia.
In 655 AD this came to a head in a bloody battle (and in driving rain) at a place called Winwaed, which was located according to the 8th century monk/historian the Venerable Bede in regio loidis – in the area of the Loidis people.
Whilst the location of the battle is still in doubt, the outcome was not; Penda was betrayed by his allies on the battlefield and killed. In return for his victory the new king of Northumbria, Oswy, granted land for the building of a number of monasteries, one of which was at Whitby where, ten years after the battle England, allied with the Roman Catholic Church, marking the beginning of a new era.
So why do we think the battle of Winwaed took place near Cross Gates? Well until recently all we had was the words of Bede (the territory of the Loidis in 655 was between present day Cross Gates and Aberford); the coincidence of Winwaed and Whinmoor; evidence of an Anglo-Saxon encampment near Gipton Woods and, it has to be said, a good deal of folklore handed down over many generations from when records were first ever made of Leeds and its district.
However, all of this was given a major boost when archaeologists working next to the new M1 Link Road near Scholes, found evidence of early Anglo-Saxon sunken houses and a good deal of Mercian pottery. This means that the Loidis people were allied to the Mercians and it is very likely that the great mystery of how the period's most ferocious warlord was killed by his less capable Northumbrian opponent is solved; Penda was ambushed in his camp and amongst his own allies.
We can never prove that King Penda of the Mercians died near Cross Gates, it's a legend, but isn't that what makes every area of our country unique, the fact that each of them has a local myth or legend that gives things a little bit of spice, and makes it just that bit different to where other people may live?
Email to a friend
Print this page- Web poll: Who is to blame for Leeds United’s league position? VOTE HERE
- Leeds United: Redfearn among bookmakers’ favourites for job UPDATED
- Leeds United: Billy Davies will listen if Whites come calling
- Leeds United: A Bristol breeze! - Gray
- Bristol City v Leeds United: Redfearn focused on the here and now
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -7 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 6 mph
Wind direction: South west
