Wherwell Abbey

Wherwell Abbey was an abbey of Benedictine nuns in Wherwell, Hampshire, England.FoundationThe nunnery was founded about 986 by Ælfthryth, the widow of King Edgar. She retired there to live a life of penance for her part in the murders of her first husband Ethelwolf and of her son-in-law King Edward. She died at themonastery on 17 November, 1002 and was buried there.It would seem that immediately after the foundress's death, King Ethelred confirmed by charter all his mother's gifts to the abbey, where the abbess was then Heanfied. The grant included exemption from temporal service, and the gift of land and houses at Edelingdene, Winchester and Bullington.An unnamed granddaughter of Ælfthryth (and daughter of King Ethelred the Unready) was abbess in the eleventh century.According to the Annals of Winchester and Florence of Worcester, King Edward the Confessor's mother, Emma, and his wife Edith were both confined for a period at Wherwell, but it seems likely that this assertion is confused and that Emma was never sent to Wherwell.The Domesday Book records the abbey's property as comprising the vills of Wherwell, Tufton Goodworth, Little Anne, Middleton, Bullington, and houses in Winchester, all in Hampshire. The annual revenue then amounted to £14. 10s.