Increasing numbers in the mid-eighteenth century meant a move for the School to its present site on land next to the battlefield where, in 642 AD King Oswald was defeated by King Penda.
Mercia | Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia | Offa of Mercia | Æthelbald of Mercia | Penda | Beornwulf of Mercia | Wulfhere of Mercia | Penda of Mercia | Edwin, Earl of Mercia | Ecgfrith of Mercia | Wiglaf of Mercia | Leofric, Earl of Mercia | Coenwulf of Mercia | West Mercia Police Authority | Penda's Way railway station | Peada of Mercia | Mercia Mudstone Group | Ludeca of Mercia | Eowa of Mercia | Earl of Mercia | Ceolwulf I of Mercia | Æthelred of Mercia | Ælfflæd of Mercia |
Oswald was only to spend eight years upon the Northumbrian throne before he was defeated and killed by King Penda of Mercia at the Battle of Maserfield, in Shropshire.
The north side contains runes that are not easily decipherable, but may refer to Wulfere, among others, who was a son of Penda, and king of Mercia.
The Flores Historiarum, attributed incorrectly to Matthew of Westminster, states that the Britons were still in possession of Exeter in 632, when it was bravely defended against Penda of Mercia until relieved by Cadwallon, who engaged and defeated the Mercians with "great slaughter to their troops".
Cynddylan apparently joined forces with king Penda of Mercia to protect his realm, and together they fought against the increasingly powerful Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria at the Battle of Maes Cogwy (Oswestry) in 642.