Editing Yiewsley (section)

===The Anglo-Saxon and Viking Age===
====The besieged Danes of Thorney Island 893 AD====
[[File:England Grosses Heer 892.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Map in German showing the 893 Battle of Farnham and siege of Thorney Island]]
In the spring of 893, after overwintering at [[Appledore, Kent|Appledore]] and then plundering through [[Kent]] and [[Sussex]], a [[Viking]] raiding army turned to head for the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danish]] controlled lands in the east (later known as the [[Danelaw]]). However they were intercepted by [[Alfred the Great|Alfred the Great's]] son [[Edward the Elder|Edward]] with his [[Wessex|West Saxon]] [[Fyrd]] at [[Farnham]] in Surry. The Danes were routed, fleeing over the [[River Thames]] into [[Mercia]] with the West Saxon army in pursuit. Having reached the [[Colne, Hertfordshire|River Colne]] the Danes mounted a defence on what was known as Thorney Island, believed to be land between the Colne and an offshoot channel of the river between Thorney and [[Iver]], approximately half a mile west from Yiewsley High Street today. Edward began a siege of the island and was joined by [[Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians|Æthelred of Mercia]] with soldiers from the Mercian garrison in London. After a prolonged stalemate which may have lasted up to six months, an agreement was reached for the Danes to leave peacefully. Hostages were taken as collateral and vows made by the Danes that they would leave the Anglo-Saxon lands and go directly to the lands under Danish control which they duly did, without any of their plundered spoils.<ref name="Through the centuries">{{cite book |last1=Cox |first1=A.H. |title=West Drayton & Yiewsley through the centuries |date=1983 |publisher=Hillingdon Borough Libraries |isbn=0907869033 |pages=9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Merkle |first1=Benjamin |title=The White Horse King, The life of Alfred the Great |date=2009 |publisher=Thomas Nelson, Nashville |isbn=9781595552525 |pages=210–221}}</ref>
[[File:Kingdom of Mercia.PNG|right|thumb|250px|Land of the Middle Saxons within Mercia]]
Yiewsley (or ''Wifeleslēah'') and the land of the [[Middle Saxons]] had been part of the [[Kingdom of Essex]] but came under Mercian control in the reign of [[King Æthelbald]] (716-757AD). By the time of the siege of Thorney Island in 893, eastern Mercia had conquered by the Danes and with his power diminished Æthelred had been forced to cede overlordship to King Alfred the Great of Wessex. When Æthelred died in 911, Middlesex was annexed by Wessex under Alfred's son, now King Edward (899-924AD). Edward would go on to take control of all of Mercia, both [[Angles (tribe)|Angle]] and Danish, advancing the progression of England being united into a single kingdom.