Wessex

Wessex was an ancient kingdom in Britain. The market town of Ilchester was located in the heart of Wessex, a few miles from which was Sir Edward's Copse, formerly the site of Irongron's Castle. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) The Third Doctor once encountered a Sontaran called Linx (TV: The Time Warrior) in the 13th century (TV: The Sontaran Experiment) and stopped him helping Irongron depose the ruler Edward of Wessex. At the time, Wessex was undermanned and prey to Irongron as the King had taken the bulk of the army for an unspecified war. (TV: The Time Warrior)

Notes

• The Kingdom of Wessex became an earldom in the 10th century and ceased to exist at all after the Norman Invasion in 1066 - though Irongron refers to "Norman scribbles". While The Sontaran Experiment puts The Time Warrior in the 13th century (via Sarah Jane Smith), The Time Warrior is vague on the date and has the Doctor simply call it "the early years of the Middle Ages". The old BBC website for the show listed Wessex as a "goof" and claimed the show was set "during the reign of King Richard I (1189-1199)". ^[1] However Robert Holmes's pitch refers to King John as the monarch and "anti-Kingjohn 'barons'", confirming he intended it to be the 13th century (specifically, the 1210s). ^[2]