BBC bosses have delivered an amazing snub to an Essex town, by saying it is not the best place to make a film about its famous battle.

Instead of the original location of the Battle of Maldon in 991 on land near the causeway to Northey island, just outside Maldon, the project is to be filmed around 70 miles away in Burwell, east of Cambridge.

Producers decided the actual battle site was not good enough.

The Saxons, led by Earl Brythnoth, fought against Viking invaders on the island, just outside Maldon. The Vikings won and used Brythnoth's head as a macabre victory trophy.

Now the BBC is using the battle for a programme in a new series called History Fix, presented by Rory Mcgrath. But his agent, Anna Arthur, said BBC location hunters decided against the original site.

She said: "It's just a bog and filming is inaccessible. There is not enough space. I think it was going to be in Maldon, but it just wasn't possible."

Derek Punchard, chairman of Maldon Archeological Group, said: "It is absurd. How are the film makers going to create what we have here in Burwell?"

"The site of Northey Island fits in quite well in the poem."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.