The area is known as the Isle of Athelney, because it was once a very low isolated island in the 'very great swampy and impassable marshes' of the
Somerset Levels. Much of the Levels are below the level of high tide. They are now drained for agricultural use during the summer, but are regularly flooded in the winter.
Archaeological excavations and written evidence indicate that at the time of Alfred the island was linked by a
causeway, known as
Balt Moor Wall, to
East Lyng, with either end protected by a semi-circular
stockade and ditch; the ditch on the island is now known to date from the
Iron Age. on the Isle in 888, which lasted until the
Dissolution of the Monasteries under
Henry VIII in 1539, when the value of the rubble was put at £80. After Athelney Abbey was dissolved, the monks built the church in the neighbouring village of East Lyng. There are no remains of the monastery above ground, but investigations were carried out in the first episode of television archaeology programme
Time Team in 1993. A decade later, in the 100th episode, excavations were carried out. These revealed it as one of the only known Anglo-Saxon metalworking sites in the UK. The monastery's location was shown by a small monument on top of the isle in 1801 built by
Sir John Slade, 1st Baronet of the
Slade Baronets, on the site of a stone vault. It is a
Scheduled Ancient Monument (Somerset County No 367) and Grade II
listed building. The monument is now on private land belonging to Athelney Farm and is accessible via a permissive path past the farm. Athelney is around from
North Petherton, where the
Alfred Jewel (an
Anglo-Saxon ornament dating from the late 9th century) was discovered in 1693. ==See also==