Scandinavian-Britain

134 SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINwith a borg to the north and one on the south of theplain a; description which, ifany confidence could beplaced in it,would help in the identification. Lelandlocated the scene at Brunedown, between Colyton andAxminster, Devon; and the Rev. C. W. Whistler(Saga-book of the Viking Club, iii., p. 324) relates thetradition of St. Catherine's chapel on Milton Hill,Dorset, where, before the battle, ^Ethelstan is said tohave had his vision of victory. Old historians placedthe site atBrumby, near Doncaster : Skene found itat Aldborough, the Roman Isurium, in Yorkshire,equating Othlyn' with Getling. The Rev. AlfredHunt (British Association, 1904) contends for Burnhamin North Lincolnshire ;Sir J. Ramsay (Foundationsof England, p. 285) for Bourne (Brunne) in thesouth of Lincolnshire. Bromborough on the Mersey,opposite Liverpool, has been suggested by Dr. A. C.Gibson; but the ancient name (Mr. W. F. Irvine, Trans.Hist. Soc. Lane, and Chesh., 1893) was Brun-brae. Dr.T. Hodgkin (Hist. Eng., 1906) favours Burnswark.Bromfield, Cumberland, which in the twelfth centurywas Brunefeld, thus, as Rev. E. McClure points out,preserving the name given by W. of Malmesbury, andalso the Bruningafeld of the almost contemporaryCharter, offers a possible site : but until the matter issettled by archaeological discovery we can but leave it,with Freeman, Stubbs and Green, unsolved.As to the persons engaged, the Annals of Clonmacnoishave much to say. The leader of the Irishvikingswas certainly Olaf Guthfrithsson, at that timeking of Dublin, "the Red Olaf, king of Scots," of