According to William of Malmesbury (GR, pp. 178-9), King Edgar became enamoured of Ælfthryth, daughter of Ealdorman Ordgar of Devon, and murdered her husband, Ealdorman Æthelwold, in order that he might marry her himself. The murder took place at Wherwell, and the abbey there was founded by Ælfthryth in expiation for the crime. In his Gesta Pontificum (GP, pp. 174-5 and 188), however, William states that Queen Ælfthryth founded the nunnery at Wherwell in expiation for the murder of Edward the Martyr; see also under Amesbury. Whatever the case, the abbey was closely connected with the royal family: it was here that Ælfthryth seems to have spent the latter part of her life.
In 1002 Ælfthryth's son, King Æthelred (the Unready), issued a royal diploma in favour of Wherwell, confirming the abbey in the possession of 70 hides of land in its vicinity, and adding a grant of 60 hides at Æthelingadene (East and West Dean, a royal estate in Sussex). The name means 'Dean of the athelings', and was perhaps the place where Ælfthryth had helped in some way to bring up her son's family; it was also the site of a battle in 1001. The charter for Wherwell belongs to an significant group of royal diplomas drawn up in the early years of the eleventh century, in favour of religious houses (Keynes, Diplomas (1980), pp. 104-7). Interestingly, and perhaps significantly, nothing is said about the circumstances in which the late Queen Ælfthryth had founded the abbey.
A vernacular note dated 1008, presumably endorsed on the original single sheet, confirmed the abbey in its possession of 29 messuages in Winchester, with an additional grant of 10 hides at Bullington, Hants. <Rumble, Property and Piety in Medieval Winchester, no. XXVII.>
In 1051 Edward the Confessor placed his wife Edith in the care of his sister at Wherwell (ASC; cf. below, p. 000).
<WM, Hist. Novella, p. 60: Wherwell burnt by William of Ypres. Photocopy in notes on Cnut’s cross.>
By the mid-thirteenth century the abbey's ancient foundation charter, issued by King Æthelred in 1002, was becoming illegible. The abbess (Mary or Constance) took the initiative in seeking to have it 'inspected' by King Henry III (1207-72). The Inspeximus was issued at Westminster, on 26 October 44 Henry III, i.e. 26 Oct. 1260. The original of this Inspeximus charter first appeared at auction in 1974 (Sotheby’s sale catalogue, 8 July 1974, lot 44). It was sold again by Quaritch, in 1991, and passed into the collection of Martin Schøyen (MS. 1354). It was sold at Sotheby's, 10 July 2012, lot 38 (£51,650). <Location to be confirmed.>
A copy of the Inspeximus charter was entered in the cartulary of Wherwell abbey (BL Egerton 2104A (Davis 1031)), written towards the end of the fourteenth century. Other copies, derived directly or indirectly from the Inspeximus of Henry III, occur in the charter rolls in the PRO. Printed texts of S 904 are based on the enrolled version of Henry III’s Inspeximus charter (S, MS. 2), and are hopelessly corrupt; the (unprinted) version of the text in the original Inspeximus, and in Egerton 2104A (see HRH, p. 232, n. 6, and Keynes, Diplomas, p. 258), is significantly better.
The Wherwell cartulary also contains two accounts of the circumstances in which the abbey was founded: a narrative of the foundation (fol. 43rv) associates it with expiation for Edward’s murder, but it is claimed in another record (fols. 152v-153r) that the abbey was founded in 962 by Alfred, son of Ealdorman Ordgar.
<Ellis, in annotated Tanner: ‘The Register with many other papers relating to this place descended with the Manor of Wherwell to Sir John Fryar Kt 1723. They are the same which in 1669 belonged to Chas. Lord De La Ware. Qu. if not also the same with the Chartulary mentioned in the text as belonging to Joshua Iremonger, the family still remains (1804) at Wherwell.’ RB iii.29-30.>
The local pronunciation of 'Wherwell' is said to be 'Whirl'.
Charters of Wherwell
Royal diploma. 904.
Select bibliography
WM, GP, pp. 174-5; Mon. Angl. i. 256-8; Mon. Angl. (rev. ed.) ii. 634-43; VCH Hants. ii. 132-7; MRH, p. 267; HRH, p. 222.
D. K. Coldicott, Hampshire Nunneries (Chichester, 1989), pp. 15-19.