This post is aimed at answering one of the most common questions that I am asked. I live in a county (Dorset) for which the regional National Health Service is designated “Wessex”, and a local radio station is called Wessex FM. People tend to know that they are in Wessex (probably) but are uncertain of the area it should be thought to cover. I wish that the answer that I am called upon to provide was more straight-forward.
As this blog is based on King Alfred, I shall describe what Wessex was in that time period. As King Alfred is often associated with Wessex, this will hopefully answer the question for most people. Alfred was King of Wessex from 871 to 899. The following is adapted from my book, King Alfred: A Man on the Move, which is available from Amazon. It would be great if you could support this project by purchasing the book.
In King Alfred’s time, Wessex included the counties that we now call Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire (and some of adjacent Oxfordshire), Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, East and West Sussex, Kent and Surrey. Also included was Essex until it was ceded to Guthrum the Viking in a treaty drawn up around the year 886. It is worth pointing out that there were additional areas where King Alfred seems to have had the upper hand in power-sharing arrangements. By the end of his reign, this included London, which had earlier been under Mercian control. It also seems from Asser’s writings that at some time before 893 South Wales came under King Alfred’s control. Nor must we forget Mercia itself. After about 879, western and southern Mercia (eastern Mercia remained under Viking control) was ruled by Æthelred, who was the son-in-law of King Alfred, and it seems that it was Alfred who had the upper hand.
The extent of Wessex control in Cornwall is still unclear. The Annales Cambriæ tell us that King Dungarth of Cornwall drowned in 875, but after that there is no mention of who was ruling in Cornwall until 926 where a version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles mentions a King Huwal of West Wales, which would have then meant Cornwall. It therefore seems to me that from a monarchical point of view Cornwall remained independent during Alfred’s time. However, we know that the diocese of Sherborne (in Dorset and therefore in Wessex) extended across the whole of Cornwall.
I did say earlier that it was not straight forward. But perhaps this post will lead to a better understanding. Tap or click the image to learn more about the book.
This post looks at King Alfred in the history of Dorchester (Dorset), and is adapted from, and provides additional materials for, my book , King Alfred: A Man on the Move, available from Amazon and book shops.
I have lived near Dorchester for many years. Evidence from charters (legal documents showing transfers of land or rights) indicates that Alfred came to Dorchester while his elder brother Æthelred was king, and therefore presumably there would have been some sort of Saxon base there. Links to transcripts of these charters are here and here. Please note that very few charters have not been challenged as to their authenticity, either in whole or in part.
The line of the west wall of Dorchester, looking north towards Salisbury Street.
Where was the royal residence?
Clues about the Saxon history of Dorchester are scant, and this includes any evidence that might help us establish the location of a Saxon royal residence at the time of King Alfred. My personal speculation, which I have heard others suggest as well, is that the royal site would have included the location on the northern edge of the town where the current prison buildings are sited, where we know that the Norman castle was also located. It seems to make sense that if a site was deemed defendable by the Saxons (which a royal site would need to be) then it would hold a similar appeal for the Normans. It therefore seems plausible that the Normans would have built their castle on the site of the previous Saxon fortification/royal residence. There is a very pleasant footpath that follows the River Frome and which passes below the site of the former castle. From there one can understand how elevated (and therefore defendable) the site would have been.
Dorchester prison, now being converted to residences, is on the site of the Norman castle, and possibly also the Saxon stronghold/royal location.
Map of Dorchester Dorset, presented to Mayor Kingston. From Hutchins. Research suggests this ultimately derives from 1771.
Fordington
It has been suggested that King Alfred spent every Christmas at a royal manor at Fordington, which is now part of Dorchester but was once a separate settlement, not only to the east, but also around the south and to the west (where it was called West Fordington). I have found nothing to support the claim that there was a Christmas residence of the Wessex court in or near Dorchester. The oldest reference I could find referring to this was in Beatrice Adelaide Lees’ 1915 book on King Alfred where she states “…there is nothing to show that he was in North Wiltshire at the time of the inroad, and the Dorset Dorchester, which was a more usual place for the Christmas sojourn of the West-Saxon court…”. However, she does not indicate where she gets this information from. The Viking attack of Chippenham of 878 is being referred to.
It has been suggested that King Alfred spent every Christmas at a royal manor at Fordington, which is now part of Dorchester but was once a separate settlement, not only to the east, but also around the south and to the west (where it was called West Fordington). I have found nothing to support the claim that there was a Christmas residence of the Wessex court in or near Dorchester. The oldest reference I could find referring to this was in Beatrice Adelaide Lees’ 1915 book on King Alfred where she states “…there is nothing to show that he was in North Wiltshire at the time of the inroad, and the Dorset Dorchester, which was a more usual place for the Christmas sojourn of the West-Saxon court…”. However, she does not indicate where she gets this information from. The Viking attack of Chippenham of 878 is being referred to.
I have also read that Fordington became a royal manor after the Romans left and that the first church there had been built about 857, and that this was a royal church dedicated to St George. Although the earliest parts of the current St George’s church date to the 11th century, it is located at the site of a Roman cemetery so the location was clearly a significant one stretching back to ancient times, which makes the presence of a church being there in 857 seem more plausible.
The Roman gravestone that is to be found inside St George’s Church, Fordington. An explanatory plaque tells us that it was found in 1907 as a foundation stone beneath the Norman porch.
It is thought that burials found at the site of what is now the Trumpet Major pub were Saxon (although earlier than the time of King Alfred) (DNHAS Proceedings 1984)
St George’s church, Fordington, Dorchester(Dorset)
So, we have two potential royal locations that are close to each other, one in the centre of Dorchester at the site of the former prison, and the other at Fordington. Although the evidence from charters suggests that Dorchester really was a royal location, I am not aware of any charters having been issued from Fordington. It is perhaps possible that a royal residence at Fordington would have been close enough to Dorchester to go under that name, or that the residence was at Fordington while the charters were signed at nearby Dorchester. Fordington is so close to Dorchester that I found that I could walk, at a brisk pace, from St George’s church in Fordington to the closest point of Dorchester’s former Roman walls in a matter of three minutes.
This image of Fordington is from Richard Grosvenor Bartelot’s History of Fordington (1915). St George’s church is shown. The position from which it was drawn is somewhat difficult to determine, but I think it might have been somewhere near the junction of High Street Fordington and Pound Lane.View of St George’s Church, Fordington from the north west, where the farm was once located. From Richard Grosvenor Bartelot’s History of Fordington (1915).
Dorchester’s walls
It seems to me that the Roman walls (perhaps replaced or repaired in places) would have been present in Alfred’s time and would have probably continued to define and defend the town. This is supported by the fact that even today much of the line of the walls can still be followed. The exception to this is the northern section stretching between Northernhay and Salisbury Street where it is possible that there was no wall at all, with the River Frome providing defence instead. My personal opinion is that there would have been a wall here as well, which has long since been destroyed and built over. A recognition that the town was walled leads to a discussion about the location of gates through which King Alfred might have passed, including when he was pursuing the Vikings from Wareham to Exeter, perhaps passing through Dorchester, in 876. The main east-west road through Dorchester is probably just slightly north of the line of the Roman road and at the West Gate, which would have been near the Top o’ Town roundabout, two Roman roads led to Exeter (via Bridport) and Ilchester. The Exeter road is still the main road to Winterborne Abbas. The road to Ilchester survives in the road to Bradford Peverell, but is no longer evident near the Top o’ Town roundabout, where it is submerged under the car park. It is perhaps possible that the small shift to the current east-west road alignment took place in the Saxon period.
Looking east down the main east-west route through Dorchester. Evidence suggests that the Roman route was beneath the buildings on the right, although perhaps the current alignment was in place by King Alfred’s time.
It is easy to think of a wall in isolation, but here in Dorchester it was surrounded by (at least in parts) a triple ditch. On the south side the ditches stretched from where South Walks footpath is, right across South Walks Road and well into the land on the other side (from map RCHM. Dorset II. Part 3).
The layout of the main streets seems to have changed somewhat from Roman times to now. The alignment of the main east-west street has already been mentioned, but the Roman road leading from this street to the south gate (and therefore the main north-south road, possibly the cardo maximus) is postulated to run approx 15 degrees divergent to the current main north-south route (map RCHM. Dorset II. Part 3). Taking these Roman orientations to be correct, it is not known when the orientation of the main streets changed to what it is today. Given that changes are recorded in texts for other towns in King Alfred’s reign (eg London and Shaftesbury), it seems possible that the changes at Dorchester also took place in this period.
If there was indeed a north wall, there may well have been a gate in it. However, we only know of a North gate from Civil War records when it was repaired ( source: Hutchins, 3rd ed.).
In 1891 William Miles Barnes, son of William Barnes, made a bold effort to try to demonstrate that the 7th century St Birinus had been the bishop of Dorchester in Dorset, as opposed to Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. I am not aware of this hypothesis still being “live” and it seems to me that nobody now thinks other than that Birinus was bishop at Dorchester-on-Thames. His attempt appears in Vol II of Notes & Queries for Somerset and Dorset. There is a remarkable, sometimes unpleasant, to-and-fro between Barnes and a “W.B.W.” (and others) throughout this volume. However, Dorchester never had a bishop, although there was a bishop of Dorset, based at Sherborne, between 909 and 1075 (when the seat was moved to Old Sarum). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles tell us that at 639 Birinus baptised a Cuthred in Dorces ceastre. This spelling matches Dorchester-on-Thames better than Dorchester in Dorset, which is rendered as variations on Dornwaraceaster. A Dorchester is also mentioned in ASC A at 636 where Birinus baptises a Cwichelm, although the text (Corpus Christi MS173) is unclear at this entry. Further, it seems unlikely that Dorchester (Dorset) would have been a comfortable place to set up a (unrecorded) bishopric in the early 600s, because this area may still have been contested or even held by the British at this time – the battle at Peonnum did not take place until 658.
To learn more about locations across southern England associated with King Alfred, perhaps try my book, King Alfred: A Man on the Move, available from book shops and Amazon. Click the image below to learn more.
Many thanks to Copper Street Brewery, near Dorchester South station, for stocking copies of my book. It goes well with the names of their beers, which have a King Alfred/Anglo-Saxon theme. I have sampled most of their beers and they are excellent. A shout out also to KeeP 106 (Dorchester) radio, where I talked on air about my book and the history of Dorchester in Saxon times.
Dorchester’s only remaining stretch of original Roman wall (on Albert Road, near Top O’ Town roundabout)South Walks Road, Dorchester (Dorset). An example of how the line of the Roman walls has become embedded in Dorchester’s layout. In Roman times the triple ditch would have extended into the land on the other side of the road.
It would be great if you could support this project by purchasing a copy.
Dorset was an important in the time of King Alfred. Important roles were played by Sherborne, Wimborne, Dorchester and Shaftesbury. An important engagement with the Vikings took place at Wareham. Undoubtedly, much went on that never made it into the historical sources that are available to us today. In this post I shall take a look at Shaftesbury.
King Alfred founded a nunnery at Shaftesbury and it is thought that this was at the same site as where the Normans later constructed their abbey. Although the Norman abbey is now a ruin, it is a delightful and evocative place to visit, as is the rest of the town.
King Alfred in the grounds of Shaftesbury Abbey, Dorset
Asser tells us that Alfred ordered the building of a monastery near Shaftesbury’s east gate and that his daughter Æthelgifu was appointed abbess. However, this is initially confusing because the Abbey is south-west of the centre, so it seems that it should have been by a west gate. But the modern centre appears not to align well with what was there in Alfred’s time and, when this is taken into account, the abbey was indeed at the eastern aspect of the town. The nunnery This abbey was well endowed; Asser (99-102) tells us that, in combination with the new abbey at Athelney, it received one eighth of King’s Alfred’s taxation income.
Unfortunately, no early source tells us when the nunnery was built. However, Ranulf Higden’s Polychronicon indicates that it was after Alfred had restored London, and we know from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles that Alfred took control of London in 886. This suggests that the nunnery may have been built in 886 at the earliest and 893 at the latest (because it had to be present at the time Asser was writing, believed to be 893).
Looking down Gold Hill (perhaps the most famous place in Shaftesbury). The wall to the right, known as Park Wall, once formed the western boundary to the Abbey’s grounds. The outline of the abbey’s grounds in Alfred’s time is not known.
However, Higden also tells us that around the time that Alfred restored the settlement of Shaftesbury in 880, Pope Marinus sent Alfred a piece of the “true cross.” Manuscript E of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles indicates that this was sent in 882. I found out that Marinus was pope between December 882 and May 884, indicating that the item could only have been sent in December 882. This led me to change my mind from believing that the abbey was built between 886 and 893 to a belief that it was in use by 882 or 883 because it seems plausible that the fragment of the true cross had been destined for either the new and important nunnery at Shaftesbury or the new abbey at Athelney, which was built at about the same time. In a generous attempt to make everything fit, one could argue that the nunnery might have come into use before its completion, with this being in the period 886-893, after King Alfred had restored London, although this itself must have taken some time to complete. The current location of this piece of the “true cross” is not known, although there is a reputed fragment of the true cross, which could be different to the one sent to Alfred, in St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral in Brussels, Belgium.
Postulated approximate outline of the Saxon burh. (After Dorset Historic Towns Survey: Shaftesbury, 2011)
Shaftesbury was clearly a very important place. In 980 the nunnery became the resting place of King Edward the Martyr after he had been murdered at Corfe Castle in 978 (he was initially interred at Wareham). His shrine became a focus for pilgrimage, and perhaps this was what King Canute was undertaking when he died at Shaftesbury in 1035. In 944 the site also became the burial place of Ælfgifu, who was the first wife of King Edmund who also became venerated as a saint. Elisabeth, the wife of Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, was also briefly held here.
Map of Shaftesbury, Dorset. Detail from 1811 map by Mudge.
A Saxon pottery kiln dating to approx 660-880 was found at or near the current Tesco car park (during investigations before the area was redeveloped) (DNHAS V129, 2008). These discoveries fit with the earlier 1976 discovery of late Saxon pottery during floor replacement in the crypt of St Peter’s Church (DNHAS V99, 1977) and a later findings of Saxon pottery fragments at Barton Hill (DNHAS V137, 2016), a site close to the location of the earlier-discovered pottery kiln, because all three sites are outside of, and to the east of, the Saxon burgh.
Map of Shaftesbury, Dorset (detail) . From an undated “History of Shaftesbury”, Nichols and Sons, Red Lion Passage, Fleet StreetMap of Shaftesbury, Dorset, 1799. From an undated “History of Shaftesbury”, Nichols and Sons, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street
There is much more about the travels of King Alfred in my book, including maps and references. Tap or click the image below to learn more.
Many thanks to thisisalfred.com for taking an interest in my writing. Hopefully, a recorded chat that we had at the Abbey will be available soon.
This post focuses on the Deverills in Wiltshire and is my third post on Egbert’s Stone. The others are here and here. There is a link to a video at the end of this post. This post is adapted from my book, available on Amazon and bookshops.
In my book I argue that the place more likely than any other single location to have been Egbert’s Stone is the collection of villages known today as the Upper Deverills. The Upper Deverills are a short distance south of Warminster (Wiltshire) and consist of three small villages on the River Deverill, now named on maps as part of the River Wylye. These villages are Kingston Deverill, Monkton Deverill and Brixton Deverill. Please note that I have worded this carefully. It is impossible to apply mathematical probabilities to the different options, but hopefully the following will serve as an illustration. If there were to be eleven alternative locations and I ascribed a 20% likelihood of one location being correct and 8% to each of the remaining ten, then it should be seen to be clear that saying that a single location seems more likely than any other single location is a very long way from saying that it was more likely to have been there than anywhere else.
Looking back to Kingston Deverill, Wiltshire, from the climb up to Cold Kitchen Hill
The ford that lies on the border between Kingston Deverill and Monkton Deverill is thought to be at the junction of two important Roman roads and the area is just a short distance north of the ancient track known as the Harrow Way (also known as the Hard Way). In fact, some of the nearby A303 main road lies on the course of this ancient trackway. Indeed, near Willoughby Hedge service station, the A303 (on the line of the Harrow Way) crosses one of the Roman roads that leads to the aforementioned ford, so this could be a significant location as well, and I expand on this in the book.
A Roman road runs through this hedge! Near Willoughby Hedge service station on the A303.
Kingston Deverill is also associated with a legend that three large stones were once brought down from Court Hill, adjacent to the village. These once served as stepping stones but were also considered to have been “Egbert’s Stones” (the early sources do not indicate that there was more than one). The name of Court Hill has also been brought into the story in that King Egbert (Alfred’s grand-father) “held court” on the hill. None of this can be proved, but it seems to me that this is the more likely location even without this legend. This is not only because of the proximity of important ancient routes, but also because following the river away from here is a plausible route to options for the location that Alfred went next, which was called Iglea (and the last stop before the Battle of Ethandun. The site also fits with Asser‘s description of Egbert’s Stone being in the eastern part of Selwood.
We need to remind ourselves of the size and shape of Selwood. Towards its southern extremity it extended eastwards across to at least Gillingham Forest (Source: Hutchins, History and Antiquities of Dorset, 1774) and further north, in Wiltshire, it extended east at least as far as Warminster. We know this because the following settlements answered at the forest eyre 1187-90: Heytesbury, Knoyle and Westbury. The following villages etc were represented at forest inquisitions: Longbridge Deverill, Sutton Veny, Warminster, and Westbury (source: Victoria County History. Wiltshire Volume IV, 1959)
The ford between Kingston Deverill and Monkton Deverill, Wiltshire. Two Roman roads crossed at or close to here.
I visited the ford and found it to be a lovely spot that also seemed well cared for. Please note that there are signs saying that the ford is not suitable for vehicles to cross. If you visit Kingston Deverill, remember to visit the 15th century St Mary’s church (although there may have been an earlier structure) where I was delighted to find a banner depicting King Alfred, indicating that his connections with this area have not been forgotten.
King Alfred banner in St Mary’s church, Kingston Deverill, Wiltshire
There is a legend that Alfred prayed at a church at Monkton Deverill before the Battle of Ethandun, and this church later became dedicated to St Alfred the Great. The church is now a private residence, and appears to have been constructed more recently than the time of King Alfred, although there may have been an earlier structure on the site (I am not aware of any evidence of this).
When walking in the hills here I rarely see anyone else and it seems to me that this beautiful rural area is relatively under-visited. I recommend the stiff climb up towards Cold Kitchen Hill (itself an important site in pre-historic and Roman times) for the elevated views over the Upper Deverills that this provides.
Later on, I found an additional contender for Egbert’s Stone just south of the railway line, and on the county boundary, about a third of the way between Westbury and Frome. This appeared on OS maps as Ecbright’s Stone until 1901, after which it disappeared. However, this seems to be far too close to Edington (bearing in mind Alfred would camp an additional night somewhere else before the battle). Today the OS map marks it as a boundary stone, just on the edge of a feature called Round Wood, and perhaps that is all it ever was. Looking at maps, it seems that this site has no public access.
Finally, it is worth noting that both Asser and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles refer to camps (i.e. plural) at Egbert’s Stone, with Asser reverting to a singular for camp at Æcglea/Iglea. If the Deverills are the correct location, it is perhaps therefore possible that Alfred’s camps were in more than one location there.
I made a video about Egbert’s Stone:
There is much more about the travels of King Alfred in my book, including maps and references. Tap or click on the image below to learn more.
