Boudica and Clifton... the final battle of the Celtic Revolt of AD60
by Kerry Sullivan and Chris Kinsella

Cliptone Publishing
is the imprint of
Clifton-upon-Dunsmore
Local History Group

The location of this final, bloody and terrible battle has been debated for many years. Most historians agree it was somewhere in the midlands either on or near the Roman road we now call Watling Street. Dr. Graham Webster was the first historian to link the Roman accounts of the battle to a particular site.   In 1978 he made his “best guess” as Mancetter, near Atherstone in Warwickshire, but he said confirmation would only come from archaeological evidence. Little follow-up study of Mancetter has been conducted and not much research has been done to advance the cause of any alternative locations.

The noted archaeologist Jack Lucas, currently excavating Tripontium, the Roman road station on Watling Street near Rugby, thinks Mancetter is an unlikely site. He argued with Webster, his friend and mentor that the Romans needed to secure reinforcements, supplies and communications from the rear.   Lucas believes the battlefield was to the east of the Fosse Way. Webster privately admitted to Lucas that his identification of Mancetter was weak and was intended to provoke debate.

In his 1997 book “Tripontium”, Lucas put forward his theory that the encounter between the Romans and the Celts led by Boudica took place close to Rugby, on the river plain near the villages of Clifton upon Dunsmore and Hillmorton.

Recent excavations of battle sites across Europe have led to a better understanding of Roman battle tactics. When these new ideas are applied to the battle of AD60 the actions of the Roman army can be more accurately reconstructed. As a result the authors suggest that Clifton upon Dunsmore should be considered as the most likely site of the battle. Their theory develops the proposal made by Lucas and makes a persuasive case for the Rugby area to be the site of the largest and perhaps the most significant battle in British history.

Archaeological identification of the battle site is difficult due to its considerable age, but the authors offer a new interpretation of existing evidence. For example the Romans used earthworks to protect their encampments, and the ancient memory of the earthworks sufficient to protect the Roman army can be seen in the distinctive outline of Clifton village. Although the bodies of the British dead were left to decay and disperse the author’s study of antiquarian sources has revealed that a large number of human remains were found near Clifton in the eighteenth century.

The authors’ proposals are made on the basis of a desk-based study. An archaeological survey of the site is needed to discover if any relics of the battle remain such as scatters of Roman arrowheads and equipment fragments from the defeated British.

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