Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.

[Owein Walker]

Why didn't the residents of London and/or St Albans simply leave without military support if the area was pro Roman and safe?

To add to Nathan's post, all we are told in the sources is that some could not or would not leave London, while some put themselves under military protection.  It is likely that others had left but, I suspect, only those who had somewhere to go.  Many may simply not have travelled far outside London and did not know what was out there.  News would only have passed by word-of-mouth, so all that many would have known was that there was a threat approaching but not how widespread it might have been.  The horror stories may have been circulating, so again many would not have wanted to venture into the unknown.  These are the people most likely to have put themselves under Suetonius' protection.

So far as Verulamium is concerned, we are told nothing of what the inhabitants may have done.  Again, some may have sought to put themselves under Suetonius' protection, if he would have them.  However, their situation was somewhat different from that of those from London.  They were part of a large tribe and may have made contacts through tribal assemblies.  Moreover, as the tribal area extended far beyond the confines of the town, they may have felt confident that, wherever they went in that area, they could expect a sympathetic reception.

............Verulamium suffered the same fate.
Later we are given a figure of I think 70,000 dead, from the 3 towns which seems high but if Verulamium is not included then this figure looks fictitious at best.
Tacitus then tells us SP met up with his reinforcements. This is written AFTER the destruction of Verulamium and Londinium, so now he has all of his troops and chooses to attack without further delay.
To avoid explaining my interpretation of "Defile" and where I think it is, I will leave this here.
Hopefully I have provided a couple of things to consider. My search for the Battlefield includes Iron age tribes, ancient trackways, Roman Potters and their movements and studying archaeology reports. I have overlaid the results with the writings of Tacitus(I admit I ignored Dio as pointless) to reach my opinion and unless something important and new comes to light, like 30,000 cremated bodies, then I am of the opinion the battlefield is a couple of days march North from St Albans.

One last thought (for now), To escape from Londinium by boat would risk sailing past the Trinovantes further down
 river, How long that would be a safe option for, I wouldn't like to guess.

As John Pegg says, it will be a shame when the battlefield is finally discovered as this Post will ultimately end, but that will mean the search has been a success.