Searching for Boudica's last battle: an approach via terrain analysis, hydrology and marching camps.

Poster presented at conference, 'On Boudica's Trail', Atherstone Civic Soc. at Warwick University, UK.

First, take Tacitus’ description of the battle site - a defile facing an open plain - and as objectively as possible search the terrain of southern Britain for matching sites. Second, compute the river flows across Britain in August; calculate the water requirements for the protagonists; use both to identify rivers capable of supplying sufficient water to the Romans and Britons. Third, calculate topographical and hydrological descriptors for 374 known Roman marching camps in Britain and use these data to predict the location of possible marching camps. Combining the three steps eliminates large areas unsuitable for a marching Roman army or battle ground, and identifies 110 possible battle sites. Apply a statistical weighting to the 110 sites and then rank them.

Combining the ranked battle sites with an examination of Tacitus’ account and a consideration of political and military logic, strongly suggests Suetonius, the Roman commander, marched west after leaving an indefensible London.

Finally: highly favourable areas for the siting of the battle are in the Kennet river catchment, with Ogbourne St. George at number 1, and the valleys of the Windrush and Evenlode in the high Cotswolds (Wigginton at 3, Lower Slaughter 4, and Upper Swell 6). The author presently favours the Kennet river area.