In Search of Alfred the Great

In 1109, Henry I ordered the New Minster to be removed to the suburb of Hyde Mead, to the north of the city walls. Alfred’s body and those of his relatives were moved to the new Abbey in 1110. Alfred was interred at the high altar and his body remained there during the dismantling of the Abbey at the dissolution of the monastery in 1538. 

Four years later in 1542, antiquarian John Leland visited the site - his report suggest that the tombs may have been opened at this time.  

 “In this suburbe stood the great abbay of Hyde…” he commented. “The bones of Alfred, King of the West Saxons, and of Edward his sone and king, were translated from the Newan Ministre, and laid in a tomb before the high altar at Hyde. In the which tomb there was of late found two little tables of lead, inscribed with their names.” 

Ten years later, the keeper of the Bridewell provided a detailed account of what happened to a visiting antiquarian, Captain Henry Howard, who drew up a rough plan of the east end of the church as a record of the lay-out. Subsequently Howard reported what he had been told:

“A great stone coffin was found, cased with lead both within and without, and containing some bones and remains of garnets. The lead, in its decayed state, sold for two guineas; the bones were thrown about and the stone coffin broken into pieces. There were also two other coffins and no more found in this part, which were also broke for the sake of the garden in which they lay, broken up and buried as low as the spring.”

So by the end of 1788, the royal bones could have been those removed from the coffins and scattered - but where was not clear.

In the first half of the 19th century, understanding gradually spread of what had happened on the Hyde Abbey site.  Visitors to Winchester expressed their shock and indignation.  In his article, ‘Enquiries etc. concerning the Tomb of King Alfred at Hyde Abbey’, published in Archaeologia, Captain Howard wrote:

 “You will lament with me the failure of my researches, and feel some share of the same indignation, when I inform you that the ashes of the great Alfred, after being scattered about by the hands of convicts, are now probably covered by a building erected for their confinement and punishment. And when you are told that this occurred so lately as the year 1788, and that no-one in the neighbourhood , led either by curiosity  or veneration  for his remains, attempted to discover or rescue them from this ignoble fate, your surprise will not, I think, be any less than my own.”

Discovery of pelvic bone

In 2013, osteoarchaeologist Dr Katie Tucker led a team of archaeologists from the University of Winchester to exhume the bones in the unmarked grave. They found that the bones came from at least six individuals but radiocarbon dating revealed that the skeletons dated from about 1100 to 1500 AD, so could not include Alfred.  

As part of her research, Dr Tucker contacted the Winchester Museum Service to learn more about the 1995-1999 community excavation of Hyde Abbey. On examining remains from that excavation, Dr Tucker found a fragment of pelvic bone that had been found at the site of Hyde Abbey’s high altar.  It belonged to a man aged between 26 and 45+ at death, and was radiocarbon dated between AD 895 - 1017.  King Alfred, Edward the Elder, or Æthelweard, the brother of Edward would fit this profile, but as only King Alfred and Edward would have been buried at the High Altar, it is more likely to belong to one of them.