Speed's Atlas, 'The theatre of the empire of Great Britaine presenting an exact geography of the kingdomes of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the iles adioyning: with the shires, hundreds, cities and shire-townes, within ye kingdome of England, divided and described by John Speed' in 1627 contained this reference to Aethelwulf:

"He raigned twenty yeares, one moneth, *and nine dayes, and deceased at a place called Stamrige, the thirteenth day of January, in the yeare of our Lord, eight hundred fifty seauen, being the twenty one of his Raign. His body was first buried at the place of his decease, and afterwards remoued into the Cathedrall Church at Winchester."

 

The E version, the Peterborough manuscript, of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle simply says he was buried at Winchester.

 

By the 18th century it was believed in Hampshire that the place of Aethelwulf's death was Stanbridge. The Fifield family who lived at Stanbridge Earls from 1701-1871 claimed to have been told of a skeleton found under the stone floor of the Medieval chapel which was taken by some church officials to be reburied at Winchester Cathedral. However, the claim that the body found at Stanbridge is the one put into and named on one of the mortuary chests in Winchester Cathedral is unlikely to be true since the chests were made during the time of Bishop Richard Fox 1501 -1528, some time before the body was found at Stanbridge.

 

A rereading of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle suggests that Stamrugam and Stamrige are misreadings of Ãt Stæningum [c.880 BCS553 c.1000 Saints c.1000] and this actually refers to Steyning in Sussex. Barbara Yorke in  'Wessex in the early Middle Ages' says that "When Aethelwulf died in 858 he was buried at Steyning in Sussex". Since there was a royal Saxon minster at Steyning this makes more sense than Stanbridge in Hampshire.  Alfred Smyth in 'Medieval Life of King Alfred the Great: A Translation and Commentary on the Text Attributed to Asser' 2002, says "King Æthelwulf was most probably initially buried in Steyning in Sussex as mentioned in the East Anglian Chronicle (Annals of St Neots), but his body was afterwards moved to Winchester - perhaps before the compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the late ninth century."  

Without the burial of Aethelwulf there is no evidence at all for Stanbridge being a royal site.

 

The Conservation Statement prepared for Stanbridge Earls school by Wessex Archaeology in 2004 claims that "Stomrugam' and "Staeniga' "are accepted to be the place now known as Stanbridge". However, it also admits that "The main historical account of Stanbridge Earls draws largely on the unpublished work of M. Williams, who in turn appeared principally to use F. Suckling's account of the house as the basis for his work".  In fact much of the account of the early history of Stanbridge is taken directly from William's work. Williams made a good effort to find original and reliable sources but as a local historian he did not look further than those sources which confirmed the local belief in Stanbridge as a royal site. The other referenced source for the Wessex Archaeology work is 'The History of Romsey' a LTVAS publication edited by B Burbridge.

 

Stanbridge probably appears in Domesday Book as the unnamed manor in King's Somborne Hundred held by Ralph de Mortimer. This identification rests on the fact that in 1244 Stanbridge was held by a member of the Mortimer family. The Domesday holding was previously held by Chipping so there is no suggestion of a royal connection at that date either.

 

Land of Ralph of Mortimer

Ralph holds 1 manor himself which Chipping held from King Edward. Then it answered for 2 hides;

now for 1 . hides. Land for 3 ploughs; however in lordship 2 ploughs;

1 villager and 8 slaves with 1 plough.

A mill at 7s 6d; meadow, 15 acres.

Waleran holds 1 hide of this land from Ralph. He has 3 smallholders.

Value before 1066 together £7; later £4; now Ralph's part £4 and Waleran's 20s; however it pays 30s.

29.11 Phillimore.

 

Wessex Archaeology paper:

"The house at Stanbridge Earls retains an historic core dating to the 14th century with improvements in the 16th century. By the mid 14th century there was a substantial stone built hall with an east tower and a south chapel existed.

 

The owners of the house were very proud of it and its apparent importance in ancient times and local beliefs added a great many extra elements to its history. Williams claims that the lakes are traditionally said to be of Saxon origin but certainly the middle lake was dug in the 18th century and the upper lake in its present form dug between 1897 and 1909" Wessex Archaeology.

 

A history of the school online records:

"The Main House is haunted by several ghosts. King Æthelwulf, who was buried in the chapel, has been sighted by many pupils. Before Stanbridge was built there was a monastery on the site. The ghost of a monk has been seen in various places. One sighting saw him walk through the chapel wall.

There is a tunnel that runs from Main House leading to The Duke's Head, a pub near the school. It has been suggested that it was created by the Kirkby's during the Civil War along with several Priest Holes to protect them from the Parliamentarians."

 

There is no actual evidence of the existence of a monastery, tunnel or ghosts.