Wilton Abbey

Wilton Abbey is first recorded in the 930s, but a 15th-century poem dates its foundation to the late 8th century by Weohstan, ealdorman of Wiltshire, and his widow Alburga is said to have been its abbess.

According to Stenton, she was a nun when Edgar (who could not have been more than sixteen at the time, and she a bit older) abducted her from the abbey and carried her off to his palace at Kemsing, near Sevenoaks.

Nevertheless, she was held at Kemsing for two years, during which time she bore Edgar a daughter Saint Edith, whom he acknowledged and supported for the rest of his life.

By the early 960's, Wulfthryth was installed as abbess back at Wilton (where she raised her daughter), and Edgar had bestowed the abbey with treasure and land.

In 964 Edgar married Ælfthryth, in a Christian ceremony which would have nullified any pagan arrangement with Wulfthryth; because of this, modern historians sometimes refer to her as a "concubine" but the word is inaccurate, given the custom of the time.

[15] The Abbess of Wilton held an entire barony from the king, a privilege shared by only three other English nunneries, Shaftesbury, Barking, and St Mary's Abbey, Winchester.

During the 13th-century, Wilton Abbey experienced a period of financial crisis, and between 1246 and 1276, several gifts were made from the crown and the church for the repair of the buildings, which were at this point described as having fallen into a serious state of disrepair.

The site was granted to Sir William Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke, who commenced the building of Wilton House, still the abode of his descendants.