The Chronicle (hereafter ASC) tells us that in AD 477 Ælle and his three sons “came to the land of Britain with three ships at the place which is named Cymen’s Shore (Cymenes ora)”. Although locations have been suggested for this site all along the Sussex coast, the best candidate is the modern Manhood Peninsula and Selsey Bill in West Sussex. This site consisted of an easily defined area for the Saxons to first conquer and then expand from, something which they did systematically over the next few years. The Roman city of Noviomagus Reginorum would eventually become the capital of the Kingdom of Sussex and possibly take its modern name (Chichester) from Ælle’s son Cissa.
Having established a foothold on the British mainland, Ælle pushed further inland. In 485 he fought a battle at Mercredesburne (), a battle that seems to have been indecisive but which was considered an audacious advance by the Saxons. This last observation comes from the , a twelfth-century chronicle by Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon. Henry uses. For Mercredesburne he tells us:
