Battlefields Trust London & South East

Some historians have claimed that the Battle of the Medway in A.D. 43 is second only to the Battle of Hastings, as the most important and decisive battle ever to be fought on British soil. Many would regard this claim as debatable. However, there can be no doubt that the Battle of the Medway was one of the most important battles of the Roman invasion of Britain, and that campaign led to most of Britain being incorporated into the Roman Empire for the next three and a half centuries.

The first serious Roman involvement with Britain came with Julius Caesar's abortive expeditions of 55 BC, and 54 BC. These achieved very little, and some ninety years passed before the Roman Emperor Claudius decided that the time had come to establish Roman rule in Britain.

In the summer of A.D. 43 a Roman army of some 40,000 men commanded by Aulus Plautius made an unopposed landing at Richborough on the North coast of Kent. This force included four Legions; IInd Augusta, IXth Hispana, XIVth Gemina and the XXth Valeria Victrix. Each of these Legions consisted of some 5,000 well armed, highly trained and well disciplined heavy infantry. The commander of the IInd Augusta was Flavius Vespasian, who not only distinguished himself in the campaign but eventually became Emperor of Rome. The rest of the army consisted of some 20,000 auxiliary troops. The auxiliaries were usually recruited from conquered provinces and provided the Roman armies with cavalry and archers.

The Roman preparations for this invasion were not only military but also political and diplomatic. The ancient Britons were not a nation, but a collection of warring tribes. Roman diplomacy managed to persuade some of these tribes such as the Atrebates to side with the invaders. However, a powerful confederation of tribes in what is now South-East England were ruled by two brothers, Togodumnus and Caratacas (or Caradoc), sons of Cunobelinus (Shakespeare's Cymbeline), and they were determined to resist the Romans to the death. A third brother, Adminius, had fled to the Romans three years earlier and been warmly greeted. No doubt he was another useful pawn in the game of dividing the Britons.
From Richborough the Romans advanced Westward, probably following the line of the North Downs. It is this same route which is now followed by the modern M2 Motorway. Possible confirmation of this route came from the discovery, in 1957, of a hoard of 37 Roman gold coins at the village of Bredgar. As they all date from the Claudian period and the newest was minted in AD 42, it is reasonable to associate them with the invasion. Such an amount of money would represent 3 months pay for a Centurion, or 4 years pay for an ordinary Legionary soldier!

It would be fascinating to know the story behind these coins. Did some Roman soldier hide them for safekeeping prior to the battle? Did he not survive to ever retrieve them? Sadly we shall never know.

As they advanced the Romans fought some local skirmishes, but at first were unable to locate the main army of the Britons. This soon changed once the Romans reached the River Medway, for on the far bank Togodumnus and Caratacas had massed their army, ready to contest any attempted crossing.

The Battle
The army that the Britons had assembled probably matched the Romans in numbers and in courage, but in most other respects would have been badly outclassed. The foot soldiers would have lacked the equipment, the training and the discipline of the Roman Legions. The best arm of their army was the chariot force. The famous statue of Boadicea (or Boudicca), on the Thames Embankment in London has given many people a misleading idea of what one of these chariots would have looked like. Manned by a crew of two, they were light, fast and very manoeuvrable. Incidentally, there is no evidence that they ever had swords fixed to the wheel hubs! Chariots were regarded as obsolete for warfare in the rest of the ancient world, but even Julius Caesar had to admit that the charioteers of the Britons were very skilful and their attacks managed to demoralise some of his men.

The Roman writer Tacitus is one of our main sources of information on Roman history for this period. Unfortunately however, Tacitus' Annals covering the beginning of the Roman conquest have not survived, and we have to rely on a rather brief account, written some 170 years later by the historian Dio Cassius. According to Dio Cassius, the Britons were confident that the river would present a major obstacle to the Romans and they were camped in a careless manner on the Western bank.

The Battle of the Medway lasted for two days. On the first day a detachment of Celtic auxiliary troops, (probably Batavians), who were trained to swim rivers in full armour and carrying their weapons, crossed the river downstream, probably close to where the town of Rochester now stands. The Britons were taken by surprise by this crossing and found their left flank threatened. A chariot force was sent to deal with the threat. The auxiliaries aimed their javelins at the horses rather than the chariot crews and many of the chariots were immobilised.

Whilst the Britons were thus distracted, further upriver Vespasian, commanding the IInd Legion, managed to successfully cross, killing many of the defenders who were trying to hold the river at this point. The Britons were again taken by surprise, and now found that their right flank was also threatened.

During the night Vespasian was reinforced by another Legion, and Gnaeus Hosidius Geta took over command. The next day the battle reached a climax, with the Britons launching a fierce counter-attack. For a while it seemed that the ferocity of the attack and the sheer weight of numbers would overwhelm the Romans. Geta himself was very nearly captured in the fighting, but eventually the discipline of the legions began to tell. As further reinforcements crossed the river the Britons were defeated and put to flight. For his achievement Geta was awarded the Ornamenta Triumphalia, an honour of unusual merit.

The Aftermath
After the battle Aulus Plautius pursued the retreating Britons and successfully forced a crossing of the Thames. At some point Togodumnus died of wounds he had received in battle. It is not certain whether he was wounded at the Medway or in a later skirmish. Caratacas and some of his followers retreated to Wales where, with the support of the Druid priests, he managed to raise a new army and continue the struggle.

After crossing the Thames, Plautius halted his advance for several weeks. The official version was that he needed reinforcements before continuing his advance, but the real reasons were almost certainly political rather than military. The Romans regarded the capture of Camulodunum (Colchester), the capital of the Trinovantes, as the climax of the campaign and for reasons of political prestige the Emperor Claudius wanted to be present in person.

Eventually Claudius arrived, together with a retinue of important Roman nobility, the Praetorian Guard, and even some elephants! He spent just 16 days in Britain, making a triumphant entry into Camulodunum, being hailed by his soldiers as "Imperator", (a term reserved for victorious generals), and formally accepting the surrender of 11 Chieftains of the Britons. Before leaving he also modestly arranged for a great temple to be built at the new Roman colony of Colchester, where he could be worshipped as a god, (it was later destroyed in Boadicea's rebellion). After instructing Plautius, "to bring the remaining territory under Roman control", Claudius then left to hold a splendid triumph in Rome.

To most Romans it seemed that the campaign had reached a successful climax, and Britain was now regarded as a conquered province. Little did they realise that some 40 years of hard campaigning lay ahead before they could feel secure in Britain, and in fact the Romans would never manage to successfully complete the conquest of the British isles.

The Battlefield Today
There has been much debate as to exactly where the Battle of the Medway took place. The Batavian auxiliaries probably made their daring attack close to where the town of Rochester now stands. But where did Vespasian make his decisive crossing? After studying the question in detail, the Maidstone Museum and Kent Archaeological Society decided that the old ford opposite Snodland Church was the most likely location and in 1998 erected a memorial stone and explanation board on the spot. It is believed that in the middle ages the ford was part of the famous "Pilgrims way" which ran from Winchester to Canterbury.

To find the memorial, go to the village of Burham, and park at the old church, which is located at the junction of Court Road and Old Church Road. Follow the footpath beside the church and a brisk 1 mile walk will bring you to the Medway River and the memorial stone.

To view the scene from the West bank of the River, you will need to travel to Snodland village, and driving down Rocfort Road follow the signs to the Railway Station and All Saints Church.

The site of the second days fighting has never been located with any certainty, but it must lie on the West bank of the river, somewhere between Snodland and the modern bridge where the M2 motorway crosses the Medway.

There is plenty to see in this part of Kent for anyone with an interest in military or naval history. Places to visit include:

• The Historic Dockyards at Chatham, for centuries one of the Royal Navy's major bases and now a very impressive maritime heritage centre.
• The 18th century Fort Amherst at Chatham.
• The Royal Engineers Museum at Gillingham.
• Upnor Castle, an Elizabethan fortress, which in 1667 witnessed one of the Royal Navy's most embarrassing defeats when the Dutch launched a surprise attack into the Medway, burning and capturing several English warships whilst they were still at anchor.
• Rochester Castle, a very impressive Norman keep which in 1215 witnessed one of the epic sieges of the middle ages.

Recommended Further Reading
Over the years there have been many books written on the subject of the Roman conquest of Britain, but personally, I found "The great Invasion" by Leonard Cottrell a useful introduction to the subject. A more recent publication, "Conquest � The Roman Invasion of Britain", by John Peddie gives the most detailed account of the military aspects of the Claudian invasion that I have come across.

There are also useful accounts of the battle in "The Ordnance Survey complete guide to the Battlefields of Britain" by David Smurthwaite, and "The changing face of battle" by Bryan Perrett.

The May 1998 edition of "Current Archaeology" has an interesting article on the erection of the Medway memorial. For general background reading, "Defending the Island" and "The Island fortress" by Norman Longmate gives a fascinating account of Britain's various invaders and defenders over the last 2,000 years.

Written by Harvey B. Watson