As for your points: yes, the Dublin Vikings used the Ribble; yes, Edgar patrolled the coasts; yes, the Cuerdale Hoard was near the Ribble. All true.

These are potential pieces to the puzzle, and they should not be disregarded. At the same time, these general facts cannot be proven to have any bearing on the specific event of Brunanburh. The location argument cannot therefore begin and end with them. There are many more pieces in play, most importantly including the sources themselves.

For what it’s worth, that’s why the identification question (to me) is a side-issue to the casebook: the real point of the book is to give researchers easy access to all the evidence we have. At least that’s what I set out to do.

As for the etymology issue: I’m sorry that it doesn’t appear to support the preconception that you (and others) might want for the battle. But to accuse the Wirral camp of over-relying on perhaps the one fact we can be sure relates to the Battle of Brunanburh — that it happened at Brunanburh! — strikes me as a difficult position to defend.

But maybe that’s just me.

It’s well known that Dublin vikings- who always aimed at re-taking York before and since Athelstan took it from them- used the river Ribble from Dublin to reach York, and vice versa.

The fleets of King Edgar, in the 960′s, sailed regularly around the north Scottish coasts when patrolling.

The Cuerdale hoard was found near it’s banks.

The Cuerdale Hoard can have nothing to do with Brunanburh. Those coins had been in the ground for decades when the battle was fought. And Orsnaford is Oxford.

That said, a Lancashire location is to my mind the most likely candidate for Brunanburh outside of the Wirral. Burnley in particular has a lot going for it, as you know (though see Cavill’s essay in the Casebook, p. 331, on the question of its etymology; also, that of Brunanburh itself). When I initially got into these matters, in fact, Burnley-as-Brunanburh was the leading theory in my mind. Like all theories, though, it was tested against the evidence and found not to fit the facts quite as neatly as Bromborough.

While I am now of the opinion that Bromborough was Brunanburh, therefore, I do think it is possible that the Great Battle was preceded by a campaign with several smaller engagements. If that is so, then it is rather likely that a battle associated with Brunanburh (possibly even the Godric and Alfgar confrontation from Egilssaga) was fought near Burnley. (See my own introductory essay, where I note this on page 18.)