The tradition is said to be due to the saintly request being disregarded, with the result that, when his remains were about to be translated, a heavy rain burst forth, and continued without ceasing for the forty succeeding days.  This was interpreted as a divine warning, so that, instead of disturbing the saintly bones, a chapel was erected over them.  As a matter of fact, Professor Earle and other authorities assure us that the legend is fictitious, and that the translation was attended by the utmost eclat and success, and blessed with fine weather.

[Illustration:  Winchester cathedral from the deanery gardens]

Foreign pilgrims coming from Normandy and Brittany, on their way to the shrine of St. Swithun, or to that of St. Thomas of Canterbury, would land, many of them, at Southampton, and journey to Winchester, there to await other bands of pilgrims bound for the great Kentish shrine.  This was the route taken by Henry II when he did penance before the tomb of the murdered Becket, in July, 1174.  Although clearly seen in the wold of Surrey and the weald of Kent at the present time, it must be confessed that but faint traces of the Pilgrims’ Way remain in Hampshire, although early chroniclers speak of an old road that led direct from Winchester to Canterbury.  The great concourse of pilgrims to St. Swithun’s shrine caused Bishop Lucy to enlarge much of the church, and in the reign of the first Edward the building still known as the Strangers’ Hall was erected by the monks of St. Swithun for the poorer class of pilgrims, who here found food and shelter for the night.  On their departure they repaired to the doors of the Prior’s lodging—­the three beautiful arches of which now form the entrance to the Deanery—­where they were given alms and fragments of food to sustain them on their journey.

The associations of Alfred with this ancient Wessex capital are many and various.  He founded the famous Abbey of Hyde, situated without the city gates, known for long as the New Minster, and first removed from its original site near the cathedral in the twelfth century.  That Alfred’s remains were laid to rest somewhere within, or just without, the walls is beyond question, although the exact spot has not yet been definitely located.  When the Benedictine monks of Hyde obtained a charter from Henry I in 1110, giving them leave to erect a new convent and church in the green meadows outside the north gate, they are said to have taken to their new home the wonder-working shrine of St. Josse, the silver cross given by Canute, and the bones of Alfred.

At the Reformation, Thomas Wriothesley wrote to Cromwell saying:—­

“We intend both at Hyde and St. Mary to sweep away all the rotten bones that be called relics; which we may not omit, lest it be thought we came more for the treasure than for the avoiding of th’ abomination of idolatry”.

So the resting-place of the noblest of English kings remains unknown; but a passing antiquary is said to have carried off a stone marked with the words, “AELFRED Rex, DCCCLXXXI”, and this stone may still be seen at Corby Castle in Cumberland.