FIRST -- Crowning of a King of All England, Bath, Somerset, UK
N 51° 22.894 W 002° 21.502
30U E 544652 N 5692453
The historic marker pertaining to the 973 AD crowning of Edgar, first king of all England, which happened at this site over 1000 years ago
Waymark Code: WMT9AW
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/18/2016
Views: 10
This historic marker is affixed to the east side of the Bath Abbey, near a small doorway.
The plaque reads as follows:
"EDGAR, first King of all England, was crowned by Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Saxon Abbey on this site on Whitsunday AD 973"
From the Bath Abbey website: (
visit link)
"Very little is known of the Anglo-Saxon convent and monastery which existed in Bath in the centuries before the Norman Cathedral was built. It seems that there was an Abbey Church in Bath dating from around 757 AD which was part of the Benedictine monastery. This may have existed alongside the earlier convent founded by Abbess Bertana. However there is no archaeological evidence for the Anglo-Saxon Abbey itself. Even the precise site of the building cannot be confirmed, although it probably occupied at least part of the site of today’s Abbey.
King Edgar
In the 10th century England became unified under a line of kings from Wessex, beginning with Edgar whose reign began in 959. King Edgar was crowned King of all England in Bath on Whitsunday 973. The service used for Edgar’s coronation was compiled by Dunstan, who was Archbishop of Canterbury; and formed the basis of all subsequent coronation services, right up to that of the present Queen in 1953. In 1973 Queen Elizabeth II visited Bath Abbey for a service to mark 1000 years since the coronation of King Edgar. There is a stone commemorating this royal visit in the floor of the Abbey by the lectern.
. . .
By the end of the 11th century plans had been made to replace the Anglo-Saxon Abbey with a grand Norman cathedral."
From the Encyclopedia Britannica: (
visit link)
"Edgar, (born 943/944—died July 8, 975) king of the Mercians and Northumbrians from 957 who became king of the West Saxons, or Wessex, in 959 and is reckoned as king of all England from that year. He was efficient and tolerant of local customs, and his reign was peaceful. He was most important as a patron of the English monastic revival.
The younger son of Edmund I, king of the English, Edgar was made king of the Mercians and Northumbrians in place of Eadwig, his brother, who was deposed. On Eadwig’s death (Oct. 1, 959), Edgar succeeded to the West Saxon throne. His ecclesiastical policy was also that of St. Dunstan, whom Edgar recalled from exile and made archbishop of Canterbury; Dunstan insisted on strict observance of the Benedictine Rule. The king supported Archbishop Oswald of York and Bishop Aethelwold of Winchester in founding abbeys and reforming the church. Edgar’s laws were important; they were the first in England to prescribe penalties for nonpayment of tithes and Peter’s pence, the annual contribution made by Roman Catholics for support of the Holy See. He legislated also for the Danelaw, which still enjoyed a certain autonomy, and reformed the coinage, ensuring that no town or village was farther than 30 miles (50 km) from a royal mint."