of their service." Alfred was obliged to turn back,
but on his way learnt that a new confederacy of East
Anglians and Northumbrian Danes had proceeded
with 100 ships southwards and westwards and was
laying siege to Exeter. Haesten then went to Benfleet,
where he had gathered all his forces, including those
from Milton and Appledore. It is clear then that the
work which Haesten constructed at Benfleet was
something' more than a hastily thrown up earthwork ;
it was a strongly fortified camp, in which would be
gathered his followers, with their wives and families,
the horses of the fighting men, the booty they had taken
and stores of plundered food ; and it would need also
to give protection to the Danish fleet. This was
intended, in fact, to be a strongly fortified
headquarters, which would enable Haesten to make
good his position in Essex and from which the Danes
would be able to make a series of destructive
plundering expeditions into the neighbouring country.
Roger of Wendover and the chronicle that goes under
the name of Matthew of Westminster both refer to the
deep ditches that formed the essential protection,
while Ethelwerd, an Eleventh Century chronicler,
calls the "burg" at Benfleet the Dana Suda, or
Dane's clinch, suth being the clinched outer boarding
or planking of a ship. The remains of the Danish
camp at Shoebury, to which reference will presently
be made, show a ditch forty feet wide outside of a
bank twelve feet high. It seems clear then that the
fortifications surrounding the camp consisted of a
raised earthwork surmounted by a wooden stockade
(Ethelwerd's clinch) with a ditch in front.
Where were these fortifications and what remains
are left ? At present it seems impossible to answer
either question with certainty. The earlier antiquaries
supposed the fort to have been on the rising ground
above the railway station, near where the school
stands to-day, but Mr. Spurrel and Dr. Laver believed
the site to be near the church and thought traces
of the earthworks might still be seen. The rather
7