The Athelstan Pilgrim Way, a new 100-mile trail in Wiltshire, recalls the reign of England’s first king 1,100 years after his crowning.
If you were asked to name a famous English monarch, maybe you’d pick Richard the Lionheart, Henry VIII or Queen Elizabeth II. Few would consider, or remember, Æthelstan, Alfred the Great’s grandson, but he was the first king to rule over a united England.
England’s first true king (whose anglicised name is Athelstan) was buried in Malmesbury, a hilltop town surrounded by rural Wiltshire’s rolling countryside, where he’s never been forgotten. Now, the new Athelstan Pilgrim Way – a 100-mile-long hiking and cycling trail, starting at Malmesbury Abbey, sets out to officially remember him, 1,100 years after his crowning.
Launched in June 2024, the route links 36 churches in North Wiltshire, and is reviving the king’s lost legacy. It was created as part of the wider “Athelstan 1,100” celebrations, which included archaeological digs, historical lectures, and an 11-day pilgrimage in August to Kingston-upon-Thames, which is approximately 100 miles away, and is where Æthelstan was officially crowned in 925.
The Athelstan Pilgrim Way itself doesn’t go to Kingston-upon-Thames, but consists instead of six circular walks and two long cycling loops that traverse Malmesbury’s surrounding countryside. The first stage starts in Malmesbury Abbey, where you can find Æthelstan’s tomb beneath high Norman arches.
“I’d never really heard of Æthelstan until I moved here from Manchester,” explains Anne Goodyer, a volunteer at Malmesbury’s Athelstan Museum, “but this is the heartland of English history. He’s remembered very, very fondly here.”
While every English school child can tell you the story of Alfred the Great burning the cakes, his grandson’s exploits are typically consigned to dusty library shelves. When Æthelstan was born, around 894AD, the land now known as England was divided between warring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and Viking invaders. Alfred, King of Wessex, dreamed of uniting the English-speaking peoples of Britain to defeat the Norse usurpers. After he layed the foundations for his dream, his grandson, who ruled from 924 to 939AD, became the first king of a united territory after he finally conquered the Viking-controlled kingdom of Jorvik (York) that occupied much of northern England.
“For the first time in history, the ethnic English peoples were all ruled by one king,” explained local historian and author Tony McAleavy, who explores the history of Æthelstan’s supposed resting place in his book, Malmesbury Abbey 670-1539.
An intensely pious king, Æthelstan’s reverence for Saint Aldhelm, the 8th-Century Abbot of Malmesbury, was one reason he wished to be buried there when he died in 939. The other reason, according to McAleavy, was political. While Æthelstan’s ancestors were buried in Winchester, the traditional seat of Wessex royalty, Malmesbury sits right on the border between the once-warring kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia. A symbolic signal, even in death, that Æthelstan had been king of all the English.
Adding to Æthelstan’s mysterious aura, David Pope, who helped develop the Athelstan Pilgrim Way’s routes, explains how the stone tomb is empty. In the 12th Century, the king was moved from the older Anglo-Saxon abbey, but he was later lost, his bones likely scattered during Henry VIII’s Reformations or smashed during the English Civil War, when Malmesbury became a battlefield. Locals like Pope hope that one day Æthelstan will make a grand reappearance, perhaps resurfacing beneath a car park like Richard III in Leicester but, until then, no one’s the wiser as to where he might actually be.
When you start the route at Malmesbury Abbey you first reach Brokenborough, where you find yourself on a suspiciously straight road; The Fosse Way, a Roman Road stretching from Exeter to Lincoln. That takes you to Foxley, where you will find a medieval church mentioned in William the Conqueror’s 11th-Century Domesday Book. Further on down the road, you will find the tiny Bremilham Church, which, at 12 sq ft, is the smallest church (in use) in England.
Æthelstan has never been “rediscovered” in Malmesbury, because he’s never been forgotten. His current connections included the Athelstan Care Home, streets with names like Athelstan Court, and the Warden & Freemen of Malmesbury, a local society tracing its lineage back to Athelstan himself. There was, once, even a local magician named the Great Athelstaniao.
For those of us who didn’t grow up knowing who England’s first true king was, the Athelstan Pilgrim Way is a beautiful introduction.
WALKING THE ATHELSTAN PILGRIM WAY:
Length: Around 100 miles, divided into six circular walking routes plus two cycle loops.
Start point: Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire. Pick up a Pilgrim Passport here to collect stamps at churches along the way.
Navigation: Trails are not yet waymarked; detailed route booklets are available from the Athelstan Museum and Abbey shop or can be downloaded here.
Church access: Many churches are open or have stamp boxes in porches, though not all are staffed at all times.
Best time to go: Late spring to early autumn for longer days and drier paths for walking.
