Aitkin Knott and Keskadale

A sweeping, high-angle view drops into Keskadale, better known as the Newlands Valley, seen from the brown, heathered spine of Ard Crags. At the end of the ridge sits the small knoll of Aitken Knott. Here Earl Ackin, a leading Norse-Cumbrian lord and brother of Earl Boethar, was buried, set high above the land where he won his finest victory over the Normans¹How William the Conqueror doomed the Cumbrian economy. PAUL EASTHAM MAR 04, 2025. https://hiddencumbrianhistories.substack.com/p/how-william-the-conqueror-doomed?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2aCrjoXnVNZDt8ACFcc9YVF14vwLpRxuFw1mt0FYadJXBc7BBVTK4WDsA_aem_0agfD6mJ_j4OOQUsu2AdCw.

During the Norman push to seize the region, Aitken Knott proved crucial to local resistance. As the Norman army advanced toward Littletown, Norse-Cumbrian forces used the ridge to watch, track, and quietly judge every move their enemy made.

A “very large force of men” was kept hidden behind the ridgelines, out of sight and out of mind, drawing the Normans into a careless camp near what is now Newlands Church.

The trap was sprung at midnight. The sudden assault turned the Norman camp into a “slaughter house” and ended with the death of their deputy commander, Armand de Fe’camp. The valley, calm by day, had settled the matter by night.

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  How William the Conqueror doomed the Cumbrian economy. PAUL EASTHAM MAR 04, 2025. https://hiddencumbrianhistories.substack.com/p/how-william-the-conqueror-doomed?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2aCrjoXnVNZDt8ACFcc9YVF14vwLpRxuFw1mt0FYadJXBc7BBVTK4WDsA_aem_0agfD6mJ_j4OOQUsu2AdCw