Page:Archaeologia Volume 13.djvu/383



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HE high veneration I feel for the character and principles of our renowned Alfred, led me, whilst we were quartered in Winchester last year, to make the discovery of his tomb an object of research.

History informs us, that Alfred and his queen Alswitha were buried in the church of Newanminster, which he founded and began, and which after his death was finished by Edward the elder, who was also interred near his father. In the reign of Henry the first Newanminster was taken down on account of its being too near the cathedral church; and in the year 1112 that king, attended by the bishop of Winchester and his whole court, translated with great pomp the body of Alfred to a tomb at the foot of the high altar of the magnificent abbey church which he built for that purpose at a place called Hyde, near the walls of the city of Winchester; the body of Edward the elder, and I believe also of the queen, were removed at the same time.

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