Pupils at Sutton Benger School were visited by King Alfred as part of a Saxons history project.

Year 3 and 4 children learnt about the king’s battles with Danes who seized Chippenham before practising their own battle strategies with plastic shields and spears.

In early 878, the Danes, led by King Guthrum, seized Chippenham and used it as a secure base from which to devastate Wessex.

Teacher Steve Richards said: “The children all took part, really engaged with the topic and they got an awful lot out of it.

“The visit has been a big provocation to get first-hand experience of what it must have been like at that time.”

The visit has inspired activities for the class, including drama themed on the Beowulf poem, designing and making Saxon brooches, learning about Saxon burials, holding artefacts and writing their own legend.