Athelney

Athelney
Athelney  Athelney shown within Somerset
OS grid reference	ST348288
District	Sedgemoor
Shire county	Somerset
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BRIDGWATER
Postcode district	TA6
Dialling code	01278
Police	Avon and Somerset
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Bridgwater and West Somerset
List of places UK England Somerset

Coordinates: 51°03′32″N 2°56′15″W / 51.0589°N 2.9374°W

Athelney is located between the villages of Burrowbridge and East Lyng in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. The area is known as the Isle of Athelney, because it was once a very low isolated island in the 'very great swampy and impassable marshes' of the Somerset Levels. Much of the Levels are below the level of high tide. They are now drained for agricultural use during the summer, but are regularly flooded in the winter.

Athelney is around 6 miles from North Petherton, where the Alfred Jewel (an Anglo-Saxon ornament dating from the late 9th century) was discovered in 1693.

Isle of Athelney

The Isle of Athelney is best known for once being the fortress hiding place of King Alfred the Great, from where he went on to defeat the Danes at the Battle of Edington in May 878.

Archaeological excavations and written evidence indicate that at the time of Alfred the island was linked by a causeway to East Lyng, with either end protected by a semi-circular stockade and ditch. The ditch on the island is now known to date from the Iron Age. It is therefore presumed that the Isle was known by Alfred to have been an ancient fort, and that its existing defences were strengthened by him. Evidence of metalworking on the site suggests that he also used the island to equip his army.

King Alfred's Monument

When translated from the Anglo-Saxon, the name of the isle, Æthelinga íeg, is often thought to mean the Island of Princes; if correct this might suggest that the island had royal connections prior to Alfred.

To give thanks for his victory, Alfred founded a monastery, Athelney Abbey,^[1] on the Isle in 888, which lasted until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII in 1539, when the value of the rubble was put at £80.

After Athelney Abbey was dissolved the monks then built the church in the neighbouring village of East Lyng.

There are no remains of the monastery above ground, but excavations were carried out as part of the first and 100th Time Team television archaeology programmes.

The monastery's location was marked by a small monument on top of the isle in 1801 built by Sir John Slade, 1st Baronet of the Slade Baronets, on the site of a stone vault.^[2] It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (Somerset County No 367) and Grade II listed building.^[3] The monument is now on private land belonging to Athelney Farm and, although visible from a layby off the A361, is not accessible to the public.

See also

• List of hill forts and ancient settlements in Somerset

References

1. Havinden, Michael. The Somerset Landscape. The making of the English landscape. London: Hodder and Stoughton. p. 94. ISBN 0-340-20116-9.
2. Adkins, Lesley and Roy (1992). A Field Guide to Somerset Archaeology. Wimborne, Dorset: Dovecote Press. ISBN 0-946159-94-7.
3. "King Alfred's Monument with railings". Images of England. Retrieved 2007-02-09.

External links

• A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2: (1911) at British History Online Athelney
• The Somerset Urban Archaeological Survey: Lyng and Athelney by Miranda Richardson