looking west from a position over
Liverpool. Following Ingimundr's apparent expulsion from Anglesey, the
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland claim that he and his followers settled in
Mercian lands around Chester with the consent of
Æðelflæd, co-ruler of Mercia (died 918). Although the source itself is of questionable reliability, and there is no English source that corroborates such a grant—with this region being within a virtual "blind-spot" as regards its lack of coverage in coetaneous sources—some of Æðelflæd's continental contemporaries were certainly involved with strategically settling Vikings in
estuarial regions. Furthermore, there is an abundance of place name evidence on the
Wirral peninsula, north-west of Chester, that attests to a significant Scandinavian colony in the region. It is almost certain, therefore, that Ingimundr settled his followers on the Wirral between the
Dee and
Mersey estuaries , and struck a deal with Æthelflæd in which he was bound to safeguard the surrounding region from unwelcome Viking activity. In fact, there is a remarkable lack of archaeological evidence of Viking activity in
Cheshire, east of the Wirral, which may have bearing upon such an arrangement with the English. If the
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland is to be believed, the Mercians' plans of making use of such settlement may have backfired as Ingimundr later turned against the English, and convinced other leading Vikings to aid him in what was an unsuccessful assault on Chester itself. Although this episode is clearly over-dramatised, the B and C versions of the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reveal that Æðelflæd restored the
Roman defences of Chester in 907, whilst the C version further records the construction of
byrig (fortified settlements) at
Eddisbury and
Runcorn in 914 and 915 respectively. Æðelflæd's restoration of Chester, therefore, may have been undertaken in the face of the threat posed by the significant influx of Scandinavian settlers in the region. Specifically, this restoration could have been undertaken before the apparent attack, or possibly begun as a direct response to such an attack. Æðelflæd's aforesaid restoration and construction projects of Eddisbury and Runcorn—as well as those of
Thelwall (in 919),
Manchester (in 919), and
Cledemutha (perhaps
Rhuddlan; in 921)—need not have been initiated as a means to counter the threat of substantial Viking settlement, but could have been undertaken with the Welsh in mind. Whatever the case, the remark by the
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, that Ingimundr convened with the Viking leadership before hostilities were commenced, could conceivably reflect deliberations carried out at the local
þing (assembly site) located in
Thingwall (a place name derived from the
Old Norse þing-vǫllr, "assembly-field"). At one point the tenth-century
Armes Prydein makes reference to a great military alliance of peoples that included
Gwyðyl Iwerðon, Mon, a Phrydyn ("
Gaels of Ireland, Anglesey, and
Pictland"). If this remark represents Gaelic speakers, it could refer to Irish colonists on Anglesey who had arrived as a direct result of Ingimundr's abortive immigration from Ireland, or at least as a consequence of his settlement on the island. The expulsion of the Vikings from Dublin in 902 appears to have resulted in Viking immigration in the Wirral and on Anglesey, but also on
Mann, and along the coasts of
Cumbria and northern Wales. Although this expansion cannot be solely attributed to the refugees from Dublin, it was their expulsion that appears to have precipitated this new wave of Viking colonisation in the Irish Sea region. The
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland asserts that some of Ingimundr's forces in England were Irishmen. In fact, there may well be truth behind this claim as the place name
Irby, meaning "farm of the Irish", is found on the Wirral. ==Aftermath and Agmund==