The Great Heathen Army: Repton Mass Grave, Thetford Camp, St Edmund

They came to raid. In 865, they came to conquer. Join Viking expert Dr. Cat Jarman as we hunt the physical traces of the Great Heathen Army across England. From a suspected winter camp at Thetford to the royal crypt at Repton, we follow gaming pieces, dirhams, ship nails and a carnelian bead to an army hiding in plain sight. A mass burial crammed into a monastery building. A father-and-son warrior grave laid beside smashed Anglo-Saxon crosses. And the chilling mystery of King Edmund’s beheading and his vanished relics beneath Bury St Edmunds. As Alfred the Great and Guthrum race toward a showdown at Eddington, new science re-dates bones, reveals marine diets, and maps origins far from local soil. The battlefield may be elusive, but the evidence of conquest, settlement, and identity is etched into the landscape, place names, and graves. Watch to see how raiders became settlers, and how archaeology, chronicles, and modern forensics finally align. #GreatHeathenArmy #Vikings #Repton #StEdmund #AlfredTheGreat #VikingArchaeology #AngloSaxon