The Last Kingdom: Uhtred's England

The story opens at Bebbanburg, the fortress on the Northumberland coast where Uhtred is born in 866. Danish ships arrive, his elder brother is killed, and his father renames him Uhtred; the boy is taken by Jarl Ragnar and raised among the Danes, while his uncle Ælfric seizes the family home. Cornwell's first novel, The Last Kingdom, follows this loss, and the first series adapts it. The real Bamburgh Castle began as the Brittonic fort of Din Guarie and may have been the capital of Bernicia; the castle the Normans built on the site is now open to the public.

Visitor guidance: Bamburgh Castle is open to the public and stands above the village of Bamburgh.

The Danes take Eoferwic in 866, and Uhtred's father dies attacking it the following year. The boy is captured there by Jarl Ragnar, the moment that turns a Saxon lord's son into a Danish warrior. In Cornwell's The Last Kingdom this is the disaster that opens the story; the first series covers the same years. The Vikings renamed the city Jorvik and made it the capital of their territory in Britain, with a mint and workshops around Coppergate. Modern York keeps the Viking name in the Jorvik Viking Centre.

Location precision: The novel's Eoferwic is York; the pin marks the city centre, not a single street.

Visitor guidance: The Jorvik Viking Centre opened in 1984 and tells the story of Viking York.

At Cynwit in 878 Uhtred kills Ubba, the Danish leader whose raven banner the Saxons capture. In Cornwell's The Last Kingdom it is the twenty-year-old's defining fight, and the first series adapts that novel. History is less tidy: the West Saxons under Odda of Devon broke out of a besieged fort and killed Ubba and hundreds of his men, but the fort's site is unidentified. Countisbury in Devon is the usual candidate; Cannington Camp, near the Parrett estuary, is the alternative. The pin marks Cannington Camp, a hill fort that is a scheduled ancient monument.

Location precision: The battlefield is unidentified; the pin marks Cannington Camp, one proposed site in the Parrett estuary.

After Guthrum's surprise attack, Alfred disappears into the Somerset Levels with a handful of followers. Uhtred, Leofric and Iseult stumble on him at Athelney, a low island in the marshes, and spend months spreading word that the king is alive. Cornwell's The Pale Horseman follows this nadir, and the first series adapts it. The isle was once an isolated island in the 'very great swampy and impassable marshes', linked to East Lyng by a causeway. Alfred founded Athelney Abbey here in 888; its site is marked by a monument on private farmland, reached by a permissive path.

Location precision: The pin marks Athelney village; Alfred's fort was on the isle at Athelney Farm.

Visitor guidance: The monument is on private land at Athelney Farm, reached by a permissive path past the farm.

In May 878 Alfred's army meets Guthrum at Ethandun and wins the battle that saves Wessex. Uhtred, twenty-one in Cornwell's The Pale Horseman, plays a pivotal part, and the first series adapts the same novel. The battlefield is usually placed at Edington in Wiltshire, part of Alfred's family estate, though the identification has been argued over for centuries. Three weeks later Guthrum was baptised at Aller, with Alfred as his sponsor. Edington's Grade I listed church was built for the priory in the fourteenth century, and the village sits under Salisbury Plain.

Location precision: The battlefield is usually placed near Edington, but its exact site is not known; the pin marks the village.

Visitor guidance: The village lies under Salisbury Plain, about 4 miles east-northeast of Westbury.

Winchester is Alfred's court, and in Cornwell's Sword Song it is where he marries his daughter Æthelflaed to the Mercian ealdorman Æthelred. Uhtred is at the court, bound by his oath to Alfred and still set on Bebbanburg; the second series adapts the same novel. The real city was the leading centre of the West Saxon kingdom, and Alfred rebuilt it after the Viking wars, replacing the Roman street plan with a defended grid. His bronze statue stands on The Broadway, and the New Minster, his original burial place, once stood beside the cathedral.

Location precision: Winchester is a city; the pin marks its centre, where Alfred's court and the wedding are placed.

Visitor guidance: King Alfred's bronze statue stands on The Broadway; the New Minster site is beside the cathedral.

Beamfleot, the Viking stronghold on the Essex coast, is where Cornwell's Sword Song reaches its climax: Uhtred sails to help Æthelflaed escape, finds the hall ablaze and fights Haesten's men. The second series adapts the same novel. The real Benfleet was a Viking base on the Thames waterways; in 894 Alfred's son Edward and son-in-law Æthelred defeated a Danish army there. A sculpture in Ferry Road marks the battle, and St Mary's church is the latest building on the site the Saxons chose in thanks. Benfleet railway station serves the town.

Location precision: Beamfleot is Benfleet; the pin marks South Benfleet, not the lost stronghold itself.

Visitor guidance: Benfleet railway station serves the town; the battle sculpture is in Ferry Road.

After a lifetime of exile, Uhtred finally takes his ancestral fortress. In Cornwell's The Flame Bearer he disguises his ships as a supply fleet, gets the gates opened and kills his cousin; the fifth series ends with the same homecoming. History offers no such neat ending: the real Bamburgh passed between Britons, Anglo-Saxons and Normans, and the castle standing today is largely the Normans' work. It is open to the public, with the keep probably built by Henry II. The story's Uhtred is fictional, though men named Uhtred did rule from Bamburgh.

Visitor guidance: Bamburgh Castle is open to the public; the keep and the village are the main sights.

The film Seven Kings Must Die ends at Brunanburh in 937, where Uhtred and Aethelstan face Anlaf's larger army. Cornwell's final novel, War Lord, builds to the same battle, with the aged Uhtred still fighting for Alfred's dream of a united England. History remembers a real victory: Æthelstan, king of England, defeated an alliance of Olaf of Dublin, Constantine of Scotland and Owain of Strathclyde. The battlefield's location is unknown and more than forty sites have been proposed; Bromborough on the Wirral is the site most historians now accept, though the argument continues.

Location precision: The battlefield is unidentified; the pin marks Bromborough on the Wirral, the leading candidate.