Archaeologists hunt for Alfred the Great remains

Archaeologists plan to search an unmarked grave in a bid to find the remains of Alfred the Great. Credit: Neil Howard/Flikr

The next great mystery of where a king is buried could be solved as archaeologists try to find the grave of Alfred the Great.

An application has been made to exhume and study bones believed to lie in an unmarked grave at St Bartholomew Church in Winchester, Hampshire, to find out if they are the legendary Saxon king.

It is thought the grave may hold the bones of Alfred after a possible earlier burial of the king under the nearby ruined Hyde Abbey was dug up in the 19th century.

It was confirmed yesterday that Richard III is at last to be given a burial fit for a king after academics confirmed a skeleton found under a council car park was that of the last Plantagenet monarch.

And now the University of Winchester is seeking permission from a diocesan advisory panel of the Church of England which will consult English Heritage and a judge will make a final decision.

  • Alfred lived from 849 AD to 899 and was born in Wantage, Oxfordshire

  • He is the only English monarch to be afforded the title The Great

  • He was technically King of Wessex but he was referred to as King of the English towards the end of his reign

  • He united areas of the country and defeated the Danes in several battles before reforming the country and laying the foundations of a more modern state

  • He died in his capital Winchester and was buried there

Dr Katie Tucker from the university explained that it is not known if the bones of the king were disturbed when Hyde Abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII in the 1530s.

Since then there have been several digs at the site all suggesting they have found the bones with some being put on display in Winchester in the 19th century before they were buried in the unmarked grave at the church.

German scientists have analysed the skeleton of Alfred's granddaughter in Magdeburg, Germany to try and get DNA but that has proved unsuccessful, Dr Tucker said, so experts will rely on radio carbon dating to get proof.

The university is hoping that permission will be granted this spring and results could be due in the early summer.