While listening to a lecture by Professor Simon Keyes of Cambridge, the leading authority on Anglo-Saxon charters, a passing reference to a charter from Worcester witnessed by Edward the Confessor caught my attention. It has always been said that the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042-1066), unlike many later English rulers, never travelled as far north as Worcester. I feel this single charter written and witnessed in Worcester establishes that he did visit Worcester and the Cathedral at least once during his reign.

Portrait of Edward the Confessor,’History of England’ (1767). Image copyright the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral (UK).

The evidence that Edward visited Worcester is based on a charter[1] dating from 1058. This charter, a grant of land in Norton, Worcestershire is to Dodda, a prominent thegn and landholder of the bishop of Worcester, Ealdred.  This charter is witnessed by Edward the Confessor.  After the…