Dead Man's Plaque

One of the greatest things about the British countryside is the random things it contains. Take this, for example. It's a monument erected in about 1850 to commemorate the murder of Earl Aetholdwold, Earl of Hampshire, by King Edgar in 963. It's just a few hundred yards from the A303 but completely unkempt.

There is a fascinating story behind this. Aetholdwold was the best friend of the king. The king was due to marry a woman he had not met. Aetholdwold was dispatched to meet Elfrida Daughter of Ordgar Earl of Devonshire to see what she was like. Aetholdwold fell in love with her himself and put the king off marrying her. Aetholdwold married her himself. The king then twigged what had happened and killed Aetholdwold.

I've since discovered that there was a BBC documentary on the A303 (interesting but bizarre), and the story of this monument starts at about 9min30. You can find the video here on vimeo.

Sorry for the low quality today. Although I took my camera out on my walk, I soon discovered I hadn't put in a memory card. Oops. Resorted to the iPhone to take this...