Old Minster, Winchester built a new cathedral alongside and the Old Minster was demolished in 1093. Many of the kings of Wessex and of England (including Egbert, king of Wessex from 802 until his death in 839), as well bishops, had been buried in the Old Minster, so their bodies were exhumed and re-interred in the new building. The Old Minster was excavated in the 1960s. The outline of the building now is laid out in brickwork in the churchyard adjoining Winchester Cathedral. Saint Swithun's first grave is clearly marked. Finds from the site may be seen in the Winchester City Museum. The
Diocese of Winchester licensed as an honorary assistant bishop for ministry in the diocese. The Diocese of Winchester is one of the oldest and most important in England. Originally it was the see of the kingdom of Wessex (as such it is sometimes called the "Diocese of Wessex"), with the "cathedra" at Dorchester Cathedral under Saints Birinus (a Roman missionary and the Abbey's founder) and Agilbert. This Wessex diocese covered most of Hampshire, Berkshire, parts of Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. It was transferred to Winchester in AD 660: the episcopal cathedral see was, at some point, at Old Minster, Winchester. Around 704, the diocese