"This was the fate of London"
| Queen
Boudica and her army of the Iceni Warriors now started the great push forward to London,
burning and plundering every Roman villa or small settlement in its way, she enlarged her
stock of horses and chariots from the Roman booty to help her ever enlarging army of
Celts. Not surprisingly Colchester was her first big objective which had been reinforced
by two hundred Romans sent from London, but they were poorly armed, Boudica surrounded the
town with her army and the end came very quickly, she slaughtered everyone inside, took
what she wanted and burnt it to the ground. With her great speed and mobility and her still enlarging army she raced towards Chelmsford and St Albans, these two towns soon fell and as before all inhabitants were killed and everything burnt. Roman loses must have been up in the thousands and the "Triumph of the Iceni" had been felt all over Briton, uprisings were told of as far as Somerset in the South West and all wanted to join the "March to London." Queen Boudica found out that London was now defenceless because the Roman Governor and his armies had gone to North Wales to try and kill off the last of the Iceni Druids which were held up in "Anglesey." There must have been thousands of Celts from all over the South of Briton encamped around London just waiting for the order from Boudica, and when it came London had no chance, for the Queen had great difficulties controlling all the different Tribes and Clans.( And It Was Written In The Annuals) "Every house on every Street was set on fire a Great Fire Storm swept through London which could be seen for miles around" ....... There were no prisoners they could not wait to cut the throats to hang and burn crucify everyone found "Roman deaths estimated at seventy thousand" Roman women were tortured and impaled on sharpened stakes with their breast cut off !! Captured Roman and British collaborators were beheaded by Queen Boudica revengeful troops, Celtic Tribes in Briton decapitated their enemies and displayed their heads on stakes around the towns. |
"This was the fate of London"
| When the attack had finished and all the fighting came to a halt Boudica still had great difficulty in controlling all the forces around her. The Roman Governor would be sent back from North Wales to put down the Iceni uprising, so Queen Boudica had to make a stand and fight with the Legions and the Cavalry of the Great Roman army coming down from the North West. |
Queen Boudica's army of the Iceni Celts charged down towards the Roman Chariots, horseman and many hundreds on foot with Flags and Banners flying in the wind ( It Must Have Been a Tremendous Site.) "A volley of several thousand Javelins were thrown followed by a second" the Britons had no body armour and were cut down in hundreds the casualties must have been terrible. Then the Romans attacked in tight array with shields and short swords, the Britons had no chance they were crushed onto each other unable to use the long British Sword. Then the Roman Cavalry started in on the Britons flanks and soon broke Boudica's armies rear ranks, it was said that more people were killed in the flight back than in the Battle itself. Queen Boudica's army fled in all directions, the Roman searched for her body for a very long time but it was never found. Many stories and tales were told of how she died and where her body was buried but as yet nobody has ever discovered the truth. One legend told that she got back to Norfolk to her beloved two daughters, and because he Roman army was not far behind "She Poisoned Herself" and her body buried in a secret place. The other story told was she made her way South to Somerset but because of her injuries she died on the way and was buried in secret at "Stone Henge" on "The Druids Sacred Ground." |
London was burnt to the ground and every Roman slaughtered, the Celts from the South of Briton thought
because the battle was over they could all go back to the Homelands. Many hundreds drifted
off with their Loot as soon as possible, but Queen Boudica knew this was not the end and
tried to get together as many of the Clans and Tribes to march North. The Roman Governor
and the Legions were already on the way back South to put down "The Celtic
Uprising" with Boudica and her dwindling army heading North they just had to meet for
"The Final Battle". The battle took place some where on "Watling
Street" a great Roman Road at a site of a village called "Mancetter" (later
called Manovessedum, Place Of The Chariots). The Romans arrayed their army with the
woodlands behind them, numbers may have been around 8000 Legionaries and 4000 Auxiliaries
and Cavalry. It was not known the strength of Boudica's army but it must still have been
up in the thousands, she must have known that her army however brave and willing to fight
were no match against the Legions of Rome.