More information : SK6232. The burh of Weardburh provisionally sited to the traditional site of Warborough near Nottingham.
In 915, Aethelflaed of Mercia built a burh at Weardburh. The traditional location for this is the lost settlement of Warborough near Normanton-on-the-Wold in Nottinghamshire, which was Warberga in Domesday, (see SK63SW3). However, there are several reasons for believing that the burh was further West in West Mercia:
a) This part of Nottinghamshire was part of the Danish Mercia in 915, and several miles from English Mercia;
b) The burh was built around Christmas 915, at roughly the same time as the burhs of Runcorn and Chirbury. Aethelflaed was strengthening the Northern and Western frontiers of Mercia rather than the East.
c) There is a distinct gap in the network of burhs in SE Cheshire bordering Derbyshire which would provide a location for Weardburh more in the context of the time. (1,2)
Aethelflaed issued a charter from Weardburh in 915. (3)
Warburton in Cheshire on the Mersey has been considered as an alternative location, but the place-name evidence suggests that Warburton's derivation comes from St Warburg and not from the burh. However, the location is appropriate in light of authorities 1 and 2, and the burh may have been in the vicinity of Warburton. (3,4)
Numismatic evidence of coins of the mint of Weardburh suggests that the burh may have been located somewhere between Shrewsbury and Hereford (5) |