The Witan Hall was the center of government of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex as the seat of its governing body, the Witenagemot, during the Middle Ages. The hall served as a gathering place for the lords of the Witan and for the King of Wessex; in 871 AD, it was the site of King Aethelred of Wessex's war council before the Battle of Ashdown, and it was also the site of Bishop Ealhferth's failed assassination attempt on King Alfred the Great in 877.