The body of Athelstan was disturbed in the twelfth century, two hundred years after his death, when the Abbey church was rebuilt and there was a need to move the remains.  William of Malmesbury was an eyewitness to the removal of the body of Athelstan and described what he saw: ‘the king was not above the average height, slim in build with fair hair as I have seen for myself in his remains, beautifully intertwined with golden threads'. William of Malmesbury not only saw the body he also wrote an inscription for the tomb in the period 1120-1140.