Boudica and the Wandlebury mystery

You just can't keep Boudica out of the news, which is quite something for the queen of a regional tribe who lived 2,000 years ago. Just this week, the announcement that the most complete example of bronze war horn or carnyx had been unearthed in west Norfolk, was enough to generate more column inches for this heroic figure, forever associated with the ill fated rebellion of the Iceni people against Roman rule in AD 61.

I'm reflecting on this as Boom and I mooch along the path within the ring ditch of the iron age hill fort at Wandlebury, just south of Cambridge. The original fort here was built around 500 BC, before it was extended and reinforced as a multivallate or double ditch structure in the first century AD. Alongside one of the entrances across the remaining ditch into the fort interior is a sign which gives information about the construction of the monument and in doing so, links it unequivocally to the Iceni.

The circumstantial evidence is compelling. Given the friction between the Iceni and the Roman invaders, there is a rationale for strengthening defensive positions - especially after a first uprising in AD 43 was crushed in a bloody engagement thought to have taken place at Stonea Camp in the fens. However, in Tales from Iceni Territory I hesitated to attribute Wandlebury to Boudica's clan as it sits in what was then the borderland with neighbouring peoples and is by some distance west of the location of the majority of Iceni coin finds - not to mention the gold field of Snettisham in their Norfolk heartland.

Archaeologists see the hill forts or camps like Wandlebury as as places for religious ritual, for gathering, for celebrating, trading and yes, in extremis, for defence and safety. Given the multiple sites we know about along the Cam valley this was clearly a well populated area in the Roman era and considering its strategic location close to routeways travelling north-south and east-west, clearly important enough for the Romans to establish a major fort and township nearby at Great Chesterford.

Wandlebury hill fort looks over the valley of the river Cam and it's certainly tempting to see it as the western outpost of the Iceni peoples guarding the narrow approaches to Iceni territory between the wet fenland and the wooded hills of north Suffolk. It would be helpful of course if we could understand how Iceni society was structured in the iron age and how the bonds of family and tribal loyalty worked. However, the truth is, with no contemporary written sources, the truth is we can't be sure.

Whatever the truth, it's something to think about as you walk round the fort perimeter, the path at the bottom of the ditch now shaded by Yew and other tall trees on both sides. A kestrel sits on a post overlooking a field occupied by some belted galloway cows who stand silent in the damp January air.

What is certain and that every archaeological find supports is that the Iceni were sophisticated people adept at farming, skilled at metalworking, accomplished horsemen and when roused, a formidable force who sounding their war horns, along with their allies, took the might of the Roman military machine to the brink of disaster. There's no mystery there, and it's just possible that the occupants of Wandlebury, joined Boudica to take part in the campaign that has kept her a newsworthy name ever since.