The final resting place of King Alfred the Great, one of England's most significant historical figures, may have been identified under a car park in Hampshire, according to historical researcher Graham Phillips.
Alfred, renowned for defending his kingdom of Wessex against Viking invaders and laying the groundwork for a unified English nation, died in 899 AD. Despite his historical importance, the location of his grave has been a subject of mystery and numerous inconclusive searches for over a century.
Phillips claims to have concluded a 13-year investigation that pinpointed the king's remains just 20 yards from an area previously thought to be his burial site. "Bizarrely, like Richard III, the bones are under a car park," Phillips stated, drawing a parallel to another famous historical discovery.
King Alfred the Great, born in 849 AD, ruled from 871 to 899 AD and is celebrated as a skilled leader, warrior, strategist, scholar, and administrator. His bones were reportedly moved multiple times after his death. He was initially interred in Winchester Cathedral until 1110, when his remains were transferred to Hyde Abbey in Winchester. There, they were placed before the high altar alongside his wife and son.
Following the dissolution of the monasteries, Hyde Abbey was demolished. In 1866, during the construction of a workhouse on the abbey's site, antiquarian John Mellor excavated the area and discovered bones he believed belonged to Alfred. These were subsequently reburied at St. Bartholomew's Church.
However, a carbon dating of these bones in 2013 revealed they originated from a period more than 200 years after Alfred's death, prompting Phillips's renewed search. Phillips asserted that "Whoever's bones they were, they weren't Alfred's."
Phillips's research suggests that the original remains of Alfred and his immediate family may have been moved decades before the 1860s workhouse construction. He found evidence that in 1788, a prison was built next to the Hyde Abbey site, and the grave locations were transformed into a garden for the prison warden's house. Phillips believes the original bones were relocated at this time.
His investigation led him to archives at Cambridge University, where he discovered an article by historian Henry Howard published in 1800. In this article, Howard described prisoners landscaping the warden's new garden unearthing bones, which were then reburied nearby. Howard's account also included a map.
The details of this potential discovery are set to be revealed in an episode of the British television series "Weird Britain" on Blaze TV on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at 9 p.m.