WANTAGE has backed a bid to examine bones believed to be those of King Alfred.
A community group has put in the first bid to test the remains, believed to be those of the Anglo-Saxon king, which were exhumed from a grave at St Bartholomew’s Church in Winchester in March.
Alfred, the first king of a united England, is thought to have been born in Wantage in 849 AD.
The Hyde900 community group in Winchester was set up to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the founding of Hyde Abbey, the king’s first burial place.
The group will analyse the bones with the approval of the civic authorities in Wantage.
Last night BBC Four launched a new series, King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons, which had shots of the Wantage statue of the king.
Wantage holds its first Alfred’s Day on October 26, the king’s official feast day.
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