Saint Non’s Chapel

Non, Mother of Saint David
It is a short walk to St Non’s Chapel from St Davids Cathedral, situated less than a mile out of the city heading south on Goat’s Street. There is a small parking area at the side of the road before you reach St Non’s Retreat Centre above St Non’s Bay on the Pembrokeshire coastal path. From here there dramatic views of the rugged coastline and a path leads down to the chapel. St Non is the mother of St David, patron saint of Wales. Non’s feast day is celebrated shortly after St David’s Day, which various calendars record as the 2nd, 3rd or 5th March.

Tradition claims that the site of the chapel is where Non gave birth to David during a storm although in Rhygfarch’s 11th century Life of David (Buchedd Dewi) he fails to provide a location but tells us that a rock bears the imprints of Non’s hands made during the birth that was incorporated into the altar of the chapel built on the spot. Writing in the 12th century Gerald Wales appears to be the first to record David’s birthplace at St Non’s chapel on the coast, a little south of St Davids.

The chapel is is one of eight medieval oratories dotted around the headlands of St Davids peninsula with paths leading on to the cathedral. Seaborne pilgrims from as far away as Ireland and Brittany would arrive at one of the bays and scramble up amongst the cliffs of the Pembrokeshire shoreline and give thanks at one of the chapels for their safe arrival before completing their pilgrimage to St Davids.

Much of the chapel was demolished in the early 19th century when local farmers robbed the stones to repair their field boundaries. Inside the chapel is a stone inscribed with a ringed cross. This inscribed stone was originally outside the chapel but today sits quietly in the corner. The lower courses of the chapel walls contain huge blocks described as ‘cyclopean masonry’ which according to Elizabeth Rees are often found in 7th - 8th century Anglo-Saxon buildings. In the 19th century excavations uncovered slab-lined graves to the east and south of the chapel that Rees suggests may indicate the presence of an extramural cemetery outside St Davids possibly a pre-Christian cemetery that later become Christian. 

Nearby the chapel is St Non’s Holy Well, said to have sprung up at the moment of David’s birth, this is one of the major healing wells in Wales and said to cure eye diseases. The Welsh Life of St David recalls that at his baptism a spring appeared and a blind man who was holding David was cured and recovered his sight.

Non’s Story
In the Lives of the Welsh Saints many holy men’s mothers were of noble birth which are often reflected in the genealogies. David was no exception, his grandmother Meleri was said to be one of the twenty-four daughters of Brychan, legendary king of Brycheiniog; all of them mothers of male saints. Yet Non figures in hagiography solely as David’s mother and most of what we know of her derives from versions of Rhygyfarch’s Life of David.

Rhygyfarch’s ‘Life’ was written some five hundred years after David’s lived. He drew from old manuscripts in the cathedral library and oral traditions, and what he has to say about Non focuses mostly on her life as a nun and the birth of David. Rhygyfarch tells us that Sanctus (Sant) son of king Ceredig of Ceredigion met a nun, a virgin called Nonnita, and he took her by force and violated her. She conceived a son, the holy David. After this Non(nita) continued to be chaste and may have finished her days as a nun at Ty Gwyn (the White House).

There is no Welsh ‘Life’ of St Non but there are stories of her found in Welsh poetry, folklore and other Saint’s Lives such as that of Gildas the 6th century cleric who wrote of the coming of the Saxons in his De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae.

There are two ‘Lives’ of Saint Gildas. The first written in the 9th century by an anonymous monk from the Rhuys monastery, in Brittany, where Gildas spent his last days. The second Life was written by the 12th-century Welsh cleric Caradoc of Llancarfan, which is well known for the story of the abduction of Gwenhwyfar by Melwas which leads to a confrontation with King Arthur. 

In Caradoc’s Life of Gildas he tells us that Saint Gildas became the most celebrated preacher in Britain. However, there was one occasion when he was lost for words; Gildas was preaching in a church when he found himself unable to speak. He asked all to leave the church but found he was still unable to continue. He asked if anyone was hiding in the church when a woman pregnant with child called out to him “I, Nonnita, am staying here between the walls and the door, not wishing to mingle with the crowd.”

Gildas requested she left the church. After Nonnita had left he called the people back in to deliver his sermon. At the end the Angel of the Lord explained to Gildas that “Nonnita, a saintly woman, remains in the church, who is now with child, and is destined, with great grace, to give birth to a boy whom thou couldst not preach, the divine power withholding thy speech. The boy this is to come will be of greater grace: no one in your parts will equal him.”

The child in Nonnita’s (St Non) womb was Dewi (David); so moved by the experience Gildas bequeathed Wales to St David’s administrations. 

In Bonedd y Saint (Descent of the Saints) she is called Non, the daughter of Cynyr of Caer Gawch in Mynyw (Menevia, now St Davids). Non’s mother is recorded as Anna, daughter of Uthr Pendragon, therefore Arthur is her uncle.

A late Breton miracle play Buez Santez Nonn hac ez map Deuy (The Life of St Non and her son David) is thought to have been written in the 15th century at the abbey of Doulas in Brittany. The Buez expands on the all too brief accounts of Non in the Latin and Welsh Lives of St David claiming Non was born of a Breton noble family and that she lived and died at Dirinon 3 miles from Doulas. The Buez claims Non was buried at Dirinon where today a reliquary is said to contain her relics. The silver gilt reliquary is supposed to have been made around 1450, around the same time the Buez was composed possibly to promote her relics.

Did Non Exist?
In some Saints’ Lives we find some of the saints’ mothers seem to have been invented, identified as ‘ghosts’ in the genealogies; some scholars suspect Non may be an example of this, created simply for the story of David’s birth. Non gave birth to David after Sant, a prince of Ceredigion, forced himself upon her. Certainly by naming David’s parents as ‘Non’ (nun) and ‘Sant’ (holy man) may simply have been a way of providing appropriate parentage of a saint when his real parents were insignificant or unknown.

Non is commemorated in South Wales and also in Cornwall, Devon, Ireland and Brittany. There are several chapels dedicated to Non called ‘Llan-non’ or ‘Capel Non’ usually in proximity of Dewi (David) churches.

In Cornwall her chief foundation was Altarnun (Non’s altar), near Launceston, where according to William of Worcester she lies in rest. Non may be remembered at Pelynt in south-east Cornwall, about 4 miles west of Looe. The name comes from ‘plou Nent’ which means ‘parish of Non’ where a holy well bears her name. Seven miles north-west from here, on the edge of Bodmin Moor, is Davidstow. The former name was Dewstow, as you will know David’s name was Dewi in Welsh. In a field to the east of the church is St David’s holy well today protected by a modern stone well-house, the pure water used at the Davidstow creamery.

D Simon Evans floats the suggestion that ‘Non’ may have originally been the name of a monk who was a contemporary and companion of David who can be traced in Cornwall and Brittany. When his life story was forgotten the likeness of his name to the word ‘nonna’ (nun) could possibly have led to the creation of the story of the violated nun and when put together with the connection of St Nonna and St Dewi the story changed from companions to mother and son. Evans cites the tradition concerning Efrddyl, the daughter of Peibo and the mother of Dubricius; she was also a virgin that was violated, but the name may have originally been that of a man who was a companion of Dubricius.

See also:

The Empty Shrine of St David
Saint David at Glastonbury

Sources:
Elizabeth Rees, The Celtic Saints of Wales, Fonthill Media, 2015.
D Simon Evans, The Welsh Life of St David, University of Wales Press, 2016.
Two Life’s of Gildas by a monk from Ruys and Caradoc of Llancarfan, translated by Hugh Williams, Llanerch Press, 1990.
P.C. Bartrum, A Welsh Classic Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about AD 1000, The National Library of Wales, 1993.

Photographs: Edward Watson

* * * 

The Empty Shrine of St David

Today, 1^st March is the feast day of St David, patron saint of Wales. Yet the relics of the 6^th century holy man are sadly missing following years of destruction of the cathedral and the Reformation.

According to the Life of Gruffudd ap Cynan (Vita Griffini Filii Conani) in 1081 Gruffudd ap Cynan (c. 1055–1137) king of Gwynedd and Rhys ap Tewdwr (c. 1040 – 1093) king of Deheubarth went to the church of David to pray. Gruffudd and Rhys swore an oath of loyalty on Saint David's relics and went on to a famous victory at the battle of Mynydd Carn. 

What these relics are is not made clear, it may have been St David’s remains or secondary relics which according to Rhygyfarch's Life of Saint David the Patriarch of Jerusalem had presented to him: 'an altar covered with skins and veils, a bell renowned for its miracles, a pastoral staff ‘lustrous with glorious miracles’ and a ‘coat woven from gold’. There are accounts of a superaltar, known as the 'Sapphire' that David presented to Glastonbury Abbey, his bell once kept at Glascwm, Montgomeryshire and his staff was preserved at Llanddewi Brefi,  in Ceredigion. Yet no early accounts have survived of the personal relics of Saint David who was active in the 6th century.

Saint Davids Cathedral

The cult of St David at Menevia had become extensive in the 8th and 9th centuries. By the 10th century David is portrayed as spiritual leader of the Welsh in the vaticinatory poem Armes Prydain Fawr (The Great Prophecy of Britain), the earliest reference to St David in (extant) Welsh literature. As the cult of David was seen as a focus for resistance against the Normans they invested heavily in the site and promoted the cult in the 11th and 12th centuries to raise its status among the Welsh bishoprics.

The best known account of Saint David is Rhygyfarch’s 11th century Life of David (Buchedd Dewi) but this simply records that after David died he was buried at his monastery in Menevia, the Latin name for St Davids. The name Menevia is supposed to be derived from ‘Menapia’ the Roman name of the settlement; alternative claims suggest it may be derived from the Welsh ‘Mynyw’ or Irish for ‘thorny place or thicket’. However, the name Menevia has been used for centuries to identify the area of Pembrokeshire including the monastery, the bishopric and associated religious features, forming the Diocese of Menevia.

Saint David'stained glass window

Typical of an early monastery the site of St Davids Cathedral is built on isolated low lying marshland, the historic core thought to be around the transept of the modern cathedral. Yet excavation has so far failed to uncover any evidence of pre-Norman structures with all archaeological finds being of medieval date. However, the north chapel is slightly off-line to the main axis of the cathedral which suggests that it may have been aligned to earlier structures.

The early monastery was attacked and destroyed many times. The Brut y Tywysogion (Chronicle of the Princes) records the following:

810 – Menevia was burnt
904 - Menevia was destroyed
981 - Godfrey, son of Harold, devastated Dyved and Menevia
987 - the Pagans devastated Llanbadarn, and Menevia, and Llanilltud, and Llangarvan, and Llandydoch.
991- Edwin, son of Einon, with Eclis the Great, a Saxon prince from the seas of the South, devastated all the kingdoms of Maredudd, to wit, Dyved, and Ceredigion, and Gower, and Cydweli; and a second time took hostages from all the territory; and devastated Menevia a third time.
998 - Menevia was depopulated by the Pagans.
1011 - Menevia was devastated by the Saxons,
1020 - Eilad came to the island of Britain, and Dyved was devastated, and Menevia was demolished.
1071 - the French ravaged Ceredigion and Dyved, and Menevia and Bangor were laid waste by the Pagans. And then Bleiddud, bishop of Menevia, died
1078 - Menevia was miserably devastated by the Pagans; and Abraham, bishop of Menevia, died
1079 - William the Bastard, king of the Saxons and the French and the Britons, came for prayer on a pilgrimage to Menevia.
1088 - the shrine of St. David was taken by stealth out of the church, and was completely despoiled close to the city.
1089 - Sulien, bishop of Menevia, the wisest of the Britons, and illustrious for his religious life, died …. And then Menevia was demolished by the Pagans of the Isles.
1095 - Gerald the steward [Gerald of Windsor, Grandfather of Gerald of Wales] to whom had been assigned the stewardship of the castle of Pembroke, ravaged the boundaries of Menevia.

The Nave, Saint David's Cathedral

The Life of Caradoc records that owing to the attacks by the pirates from the Orkneys, probably the ‘Pagans of the Isles’ of the 1089 entry in the Brut, St David’s was almost uninhabited for seven years and a visitor took almost a week to arrive at David’s tomb ‘because of the thorns and briars’ that now covered the deserted site.

By now the relics of St David were long lost. Yet years of destruction could not extinguish veneration of St David who was still held in special reverence. In 1123 Pope Callixtus II granted a special privilege to St Davids declaring that two pilgrimages to the Cathedral were equal to one journey to Rome and that three visits would be equivalent to one to Jerusalem itself.

The Welsh Annals (Annales Cambriae) record under 1182 that: "the church of Menevia is demolished and begun anew."

The earlier church was of no great antiquity, dedicated just 50 years earlier in 1131 by Bernard the first Norman bishop who Pope Calixtus II described as 'bishop of the church of Andrew the Apostle and St David'.

The entry in the Welsh Annals implies that the site of the old church was cleared before the construction of the new church started but an architectural survey carried out in 1922 suggests that the presbytery of the 1131 church was left standing while the new nave was built and was originally intended to be incorporated in the new building. A second assessment in 1926 attributed the fall of the tower in 1220 to the process of removing the 1131 fabric.

A recent survey of Llandaf cathedral indicated that the main chamber of the presbytery, which closely compares to that of St Davids, was retained from Urban's earlier cathedral of the 1120s and incorporated into the late 12th century rebuild. It is also argued that the present St Thomas Becket chapel at St Davids may preserve part of the 1131 cathedral. The Becket chapel extends east alongside the wall of the presbytery but on a slightly different alignment, and may be part of the remains of the east end of the earlier church.

A New Shrine
The cathedral (the church of the bishop's seat) that we see today was that started in 1182 by the Norman Bishop Peter de Leia and has stood for over 800 years. In response to demand for physical relics of the Saint, David’s body was ‘discovered’ after appearing in a dream by the Prior of Ewenny in Glamorgan. Accordingly, a new shrine was constructed in 1275 by Bishop Richard de Carew after the original was destroyed by Vikings in 1089. It is supposed that a reliquary within this new shrine contained a small casket with the relics believed to be St Davids, that had been miraculously discovered outside the Cathedral. Shrines were usually placed behind the altar but at St Davids it is placed in the north arcade of the choir facing the bishop’s throne. The new shrine was highly coloured and adorned with paintings and a decorated canopy.

Saint David's shrine (front) - St Patrick, St David and St Andrew

Following the conquest of Gwynedd, King Edward I and Queen Eleanor visited the new shrine in 1284 and were presented with an arm bone of Saint David. Edward later placed a relic of St David on the high altar of the church of Great St Helen, London.

In 1328 Henry Gower was appointed Bishop of St David’s, a rare appointment of a Welshman during the Norman period. Gower carried out extensive remodelling works including the nave, the choir and the ornately carved Gothic stone screen which now houses his tomb effigy. Gower also commissioned the Bishop’s Palace next to the cathedral. The palace was home to the Bishop’s of St Davids until the Reformation in the 16th century.

The Bishop's Palace adjacent the Cathedral

During the Reformation William Barlow, the newly appointed bishop of St Davids, seized the relics of St David when they were brought out for display on St David’s Day, 1st March 1538. Barlow also did away with the shrine of St David and destroyed or dispersed all the relics and treasures held by the Cathedral. He wrote to Thomas Cromwell, architect of the Reformation and principal secretary to King Henry VIII, and described the relics as “two heads of silver plate enclosing two rotten skulls studded with putrefied cloths: Item, two arm bones and a worm eaten book covered with silver plate.”

Barlow’s successor Bishop Robert Ferrar, “burnt all ye Martyrologies, portiforiums, & antient Mis-sales of ye Cathedral Church of Saint David, with their calenders, wherein were entered ye names of ye Bishops & ye days and years of their entrance & death or translation ” apparently on the command of the king.

Saint David's shrine notice panel 

Elis ap Howel a church sexton had hidden away “masse books, hympnals, Grailes, Antiphons, and suche lik” belonging to the cathedral. In 1571 these were found by a ‘Mr Chanter’ who tore them to pieces.

But not quite all was lost when two texts associated with Saint Davids cathedral came to light in recent years. The first was five lecciones Sancte Nonite, consisting of thirty-eight lines of text provides the only surviving material from an office for the feast of Saint Nonita, or Non, mother of St David. The second text consists of the accounts of eleven posthumous miracles effected by Saint David between about 1215–29 and 1405, collected by William of Worcester (1415-c.85) and survived in an obscure British Library manuscript.

In the 1920s it was thought that some bones that had been discovered behind the Cathedral’s high altar in 1866 could be the remains of St David. Seventy years later Wyn Evans, future Bishop of St Davids, had the remains radiocarbon dated and they were found to to date to the 12th and 14th centuries and therefore could not be the bones St David who died on the traditional date of 1st March 1589.

Today St David’s relics remain elusive yet surprisingly the 13th century shrine has survived. Compare with the shrine of Thomas Becket that has been completely removed from Canterbury Cathedral, all that remains today are the steps worn down by the feet of thousands of pilgrims to the site of the shrine where a single candle burns for the martyr.

Saint David's shrine (rear) - St Justinian and St Non

The Little Things
In 2012 St Davids shrine was restored with new icons painted by Sarah Crisp drawing on techniques dating back to the medieval period. The three icons at the front of the shrine depict from left to right St Patrick, St David and St Andrew while at the rear are two icons which depict St Non, the mother of David, and St Justinian.

David’s last words to his followers were, “be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things you have seen me do”.

See also:

Saint Non's Chapel
Saint David at Glastonbury

Sources:
Michael Curley, The Miracles of Saint David, Traditio, Vol. 62 (2007), pp. 135-205
Elizabeth Rees, The Celtic Saints of Wales
Brut y Tywysogion, translated by William ab Ithel - Mary Jones, Celtic Literature Collective, 
John Crook, ‘The Shrine of St David’ in Jonathan Wooding and J Wynn Evans (ed.), The Condition of Menevia: Studies in the History of St Davids, UWP, 2024).
St David of Wales: Cult, Church and Nation, edited by J Wyn Evans and Jonathan Wooding, Boydell Press, 2007.

Photographs: Edward Watson

Edited 07/03/26

* * * 

St Cynfelyn

Plotting Camlann: Letters from the Dead




The Welsh Annals (Annales Cambriae) record for year 93 (c.537 AD)  the fall of both Arthur and  and Medraut at the Strife of Camlann. The memory of this battle lingered long in the minds of the Welsh Poets and Welsh Tradition as a particularly bloody account with few survivors, indeed the Triads of the Island of Britain (TYP 84) refer to Camlann as one of the “Three Futile Battles of Britain”.

The earliest account of the survivors of Camlann is found in a triad embedded in the earliest Arthurian tale Culhwch and Olwen. In this account three survivors are listed: Morfran son of Tegid, Sanddef Pryd Angel and Cynwyl Sant, who was the last to leave Arthur.

Yet, by the 17th century the number of survivors from Camlann was listed as seven and Cynwyl Sant (the saint) had been replaced by St Cynfelyn. A note in Evan Evans’s (1731-1788) notebook (Panton MS 13) gives seven names for the Survivors of Camlann. Rachel Bromwich considers Evans' text to be a copy of Lewis Morris' copy of 17th century manuscript Peniarth 185.

We have previously looked at St Cynwyl who is remembered at of Aberporth on the west coast of Wales in Ceredigion, where the church is depicted as St Cynfil's on historic maps. Apart from a couple of churches in Carmenthenshire and Penrhos in Llŷn, very little is known of St Cynwyl; he is absent from most books on the Celtic Welsh Saints. His relationship with Arthur and his presence at the battle of Camlann and why he appears listed amongst the survivors remains a mystery. Neither St Cynwyl, or his horse Hengroen, appear to provide any clues in plotting the location of Camlann.

Who then was St Cynfelyn; a famous warrior, a famous saint, or both?

Saints and Warriors
Peter Bartrum lists no less than ten characters bearing the name Cynfelyn in his Classical Welsh Dictionary. Amongst these are warriors of the Old North and a Saint from Mid-Wales.

Bartrum tells us that Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ‘Kimbelinus’ was based on Cunobelinus, the son of Tasciovanus of the Catuvelauni. In Brut y Brenhinedd (The Welsh version of Geoffrey’s Chronicle) the name is correctly rendered Cynfelyn. However, Tasciovanus was a historical king, known from coinage dated around 20 BC who ruled the Catuvellauni from Verlamion (modern-day St Albans). As pre-Roman king Cunobelinus is totally out of place in relation to the battle of Camlann.

Then, in Bartrum’s list, we have Cynfelyn Drwsgl which at first glance seems more promising. His epithet means Cynfelyn the ‘clumsy’ but Rachel Bromwich (Triads of the Island of Britain) suggest this perhaps should be more correctly rendered as ‘leprous’. Cynfelyn is listed in the genealogies as one of the Men of the North (Gwŷr y Gogledd) and in the Triads listed as one of ‘Three Pillars of Battle’. In another he is listed as one of the ‘Three Horse-Burdens’ which relates to the Battle of Arderydd. A poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen records Cynfelyn as one of the seven sons of Eliffer [Gosgorddfawr] which again links to the battle of Arderydd. According to the Welsh Annals the battle of Arderydd was fought in 573 AD.

Arderydd is the second of “Three Futile Battles of Britain” listed in theTriads of the Island of Britain (TYP 84), fought apparently over a “lark’s nest”. This battle was the inspiration for the Merlin legend, from the poems found in the Black Book of Carmarthen, in which he has gone mad and fled into the forest, in turn founded on Lailoken the wildman of the forest.

St Michael and All Angels Church, Arthuret, Cumbria

The battle site was identified many years ago by Skene as the woods just north-east of the Cumbrian village of Arthuret, near Longtown. Owing to the name, the church here has attracted Arthurian legend with claims that King Arthur, or his head, is buried here, but Arthur was long gone before this battle and it seems a very late association.

The poet Aneirin records an assault by a retinue from the Gododdin, an area in Lothian around Edinburgh, around 600 AD. The poem, a series of elegies remembering the fallen warriors of the Gododdin is famous for recording the survival of just three warriors. It is usually interpreted as an attack on the Angles at Catterick (Catraeth). The original was said the have been composed in Eidyn (Edinbugh) before transferring to North Wales at an early date. It appears that on arrival in Gwynedd the poem was somewhat expanded and modified. At some stage four poems known as Gorchanau were added, although these are not considered part of the original work.

One, Gorchan Cynfelyn, records a contingent from Gwynedd who joined the attack on Catraeth in support of the Gododdin. This particular Gorchan is important in tracing the development of the Arthurian legend, as it provides the earliest reference to supernatural boar the Twrch Trwyth and records an obscure reference to fighting in a river as with Arthur and his men in the river Severn as found in Culhwch ans Olwen. This Cynfelyn is recorded as son of Tegan, son of Cadfan.

Y Gododdin

However, Camlann is likely to have been fought earlier. The date of 542 is the date Geofffey of Monmouth provides for Arthur’s last battle. This is the same date given by Evans Evans. Yet, the  Welsh Annals provides 537; significantly 21 years after the Battle of Badon. The date given by the Welsh Annals for Badon, 516, could be as much as 20 years too late; most historians date Badon to within a decade either side of 500 AD, giving a date range of 490 x 510.

It seems unlikely, although not totally impossible, that if this is the same Cynfelyn who fought at Camlann in 542 he would be an ageing warrior if actively participating in battle at Arderydd in 573 or Catraeth c.600. Mighty warriors they both may have been, but neither are recorded as a saint. Furthermore, neither of these two warriors are associated with churches in their geographic heartlands. It seems we must look elsewhere for a St Cynfelyn associated with the battle of Camlann.

Saints
In the earliest account of the survivors of Camlann, we have Morfran son of Tegid, Sanddef Pryd Angel and Cynwyl Sant. A later 16th century account has St Cynfelyn replacing Cynwyl Sant. Perhaps we should be looking within the locations of those three men; both Sanddef and Morfran are associated with the area around Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid) and Cynwyl around Aberporth.

Mofran appears in the later tale of Taliesin, again located around Bala. The 'Hanes Taliesin' is a legendary account of the life of Taliesin first recorded in the mid-16th century by Elis Gruffydd, According to ‘Hanes Taliesin’, Taliesin claims to have been ‘in Gwynfryn in the court of Cynfelyn, in stock and fetters for a day and a year.’

Midway between the towns of Aberystwyth and Machynlleth in north Ceredigion, is the parish of Llangynfelyn centred on the villages of Tre-Taliesin and Tre'r Ddôl and the settlements of Llangynfelyn, and Craig y Penrhyn.

The parish is named from the church of St Cynfelyn, about a mile north-west of Tre-Taliesin, significantly located midway between Aberporth and Bala, the locations of the earliest recorded survivors of Camlan. The church, a Grade II listed building unfortunately now derelict, is situated within a roughly circular churchyard, indicative of an early Celtic 'llan'. A healing well, Ffynnon Gynfelin, is situated on the north side of the churchyard.

In searching for a saint by the name of Cynfelyn we find there is very little information available about the saint, his festival does not occur in any of the Welsh calendars. Little is known of this 6th century saint, yet he is thought to have been a real person who is said to be a descendant of Ceredig and Cunedda Wledig.

After the battle of Camlann, Cynfelyn is said to have retreated to live as a hermit in a small cell on the edge of a bog, and in time that cell took its name and became known as Llangynfelyn. He raised his cell on the side of Gors Fochno, somewhere close to where his church stands today.

Sarn Gynfelyn
Situated on the Ceredigion coastline, between Borth and Aberystwyth, is a reef or causeway, known as Sarn Cynfelyn, extending some seven miles out to sea. The five causeways (sarnau) extending into the Cardigan Bay are relics of glacial moraine deposited during the last ice age forming natural reefs of boulders and shingle washed clean by the sea over thousands of years.

Further north is Sarn Badrig, also known as St. Patrick’s Causeway, emerging from Mochras (Shell Island) and extending for 14 miles into Cardigan Bay. Legend claims Saint Patrick walked across to Wales along this shingle ridge. These causeways were thought to be the remains of ancient dams or dykes protecting the mythical sunken kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod inundated in the 6th century.

Submerged forest Ynyslas

About 5 miles north of Sarn Gynfelyn is the submerged forest at Ynyslas, which is also associated with the legend of the drowned land. Here on the coastline is the exposed remains of a forest of oak, pine, birch, willow and hazel tree stumps is revealed at low tide, estimated to be about 5,000 years old. This is clearly proof that land in Cardigan Bay was flooded years ago; the legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod is based on the ancient memory of a real event.

Legend claims that after the inundation the king of Ceredigion, Gwyddno Garanhir, brother of Maelgwn Gwynedd, relocated his court to dry land, and established his main port at Porth Wyddno (modern Borth). Nearby, between Aberdyfi and Aberystwyth, he had a fishing weir constructed. As recent as the 18th century there were reports of sightings of the remains of human habitation at the far end of Sarn Cynfelyn, where a collection of large stones and boulders some seven miles out to sea form a reef known as 'Caer Wyddno', the fort, or palace, of Gwyddno. This is one of the sites claimed to be where the babe Taliesin was found in the fish weir.


Next: St Cedwyn, from the World's blessing


Sources:
Rachel, Bromwich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain, University of Wales Press; 3rd edition, 2006.
PC Bartrum, A Classical Welsh Dictionar: People in History and Legend up to about A.D. 1000, online at The National Library of Wales

* * *

Except Seven, None Rose Up

The Seven Survivors of Camlann

Plotting Camlann: Letters from the Dead



 
Arthur and the Saints
Arthur is intimately linked to the early Saints, appearing in nine different Saints’ Lives (Vitae) that are largely independent of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Most of these accounts, including Cadoc, Carannog, Gildas, Illtud, Padarn and the Breton Saint Goeznovius, were written in the 11th and 12th centuries, some 500 years or so after Arthur is said to have lived and, it must be admitted, of little historical value; five of these Lives were written at the Celtic monastery established by St Cadoc at Llancarfan in the Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales.

The majority of the Vitae portray Arthur as a tyrant, typified as a fractious warlord as a foil to display the excellent skills of the Saint. Yet these accounts of the deeds of the saints, fictitious or otherwise, were shaping the future Arthurian legend.

Gildas is often considered one of the few contemporary sources for late 5th and early 6th century Britain and frustratingly fails to mention Arthur by name. Explanation is providedby Gerald of Wales who claims that after Arthur killed Hueil the brother of Gildas he threw all his books into the sea. But Gildas is not writing a history; he bemoans the sins of the Britons who are being punished by God with the onslaught of the Saxons.

There are two versions of the Life of Gildas. The first was written in the 9th century by an unnamed monk at the Rhuys monastery in Brittany, the second "Life" was a work by Caradoc of Llancarfan in the 12th century and includes the first account of the abduction of Arthur’s Queen Guinevere by Melvas, king of the Summerland, who holds her captive at Glastonbury. Arthur musters the forces of Dumnonia and besieges her abductor but Gildas, then Abbot of Glastonbury, intervenes to peacefully resolve the matter. In response Arthur makes gifts of land to the Abbey.

The Age of the Saints
Christianity in Wales is said to have emerged in the late Roman period of the country. Initially the religion was banned in the Empire through a series of edicts. It is doubtful if the persecution of Christians as seen in the eastern empire, was felt to such a degree this far in the west. However, Gildas writes of the martyrdom of Aaron and Julius in Caerleon in South Wales around the same time as the first British martyr Alban at Verulamium. Debate continues as whether these martyrdoms occurred during the persecutions of Severus (208-211), Decius or Valerian (251–259), or Diocletian (304).

The Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon,
the site of the martyrdom of SS Julius and Aaron?

The persecution of Christians was to officially come to end during the during the reign of Constantine the Great (306–337) and Christianity began to develop as the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. This was all to change with the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain in 410 when Christianity is said to have all but died out in the island. However, survive it did and the gentle flicker of the flames developed under Celtic influence rather than Roman with the emergence of the Celtic Saints in Western Britain.

After nearly two hundred years of freedom to develop unhindered the Celtic Church came under pressure to accept the religious practices of the Roman Empire once more when St Augustine arrived in Britain in 597. Augustine was on a Papal mission to convert the Anglo Saxons in the south and east of the country but he soon came in contact with the native church in the west.

Following a series of meetings with the Welsh Bishops, known as the Synod of Chester, the Celtic Church refused to accept his authority. Soon after the Celtic monastery at Bangon-on-Dee, just outside Chester, was attacked by the Northumbrian King Aethelfrith and raised to the ground with many hundreds of its monks massacred.

The Massacre of the Clergy of Bangor by Aethelfrith

Augustine has been see as complicit in this destructive act, perhaps in frustration at the Welsh Bishops’ rejection of his (Papal) authority, or a deliberate attempt to wipe out the native church. History has muddied the waters in identifying the real reason and date for the destruction of Bangor-on-Dee, otherwise known as “The Battle of Chester” (Urbs Legionis).

The Brut y Brenhinedd, a Welsh version of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) records the battle as occurring at Bangor Orchard (Welsh = Perllan Fangor) which seems to suggest it was indeed the destruction of the Celtic monastery that Aethelfrith accomplished. This is supported in the Triad; Three Gate-Keepers at the Action of Bangor Orchard.

Dates for the battle vary between sources, several push the date typically to 613 x 616 to separate the event from Augustine who is said to have died in 26th May 604. Other Chronicles offer an earlier date.

The Welsh Annals list an important synod of St Augustine with the Welsh bishops at "Urbs Legion"  for the year 601 AD. Bede records a second synod in 603 AD:

“In the meantime, Augustine, with the assistance of King Ethelbert, drew together to a conference the bishops, or doctors, of the next province of the Britons, at a place which is to this day called Augustine's Ac, that is, Augustine's Oak, on the borders of the Hwicce and West Saxons..."

And yet here again we find our man Arthur: Chapter 56 of the Historia Brittonum, c.829 AD, (often referred to as simply 'Nennius'), also known as the Arthurian battle list, cites Arthur's ninth battle at the 'City of the Legion' (Urbs Legionis). The only known Dark Age battle at the City of Legion is Chester (Bangor-on-Dee). Clearly, the Dux Bellorum is out of place here; we can only assume the battle has been wrongly ascribed to Arthur.

Like the Battle of Chester, the early Celtic Saints in Wales are shrouded in mist; most Saints’ Lives date from the 12th century and Wales is lacking an account similar to the Book of Kells or Lindisfarne Gospels.

From the mist, Saint David emerges as the pre-eminent Saint of Wales, unique as the only British patron Saint to have been born in the land of his patronage. He was probably born in the early 6th century but little is known of his early life, his hagiography, like many saints lives, was not written down until the 11th century. There is a tradition that David was the nephew of King Arthur.

Before St David there were St Dyfrig and St Illtud. The earliest account of Dyfrig (Dubricius), appears in the 12th century. He is said to have been active in Ergyng (Archenfield, south Herefordshire) and much of southeast Wales. St Dubricius is said to have crowned King Arthur.

St Illtud is said to have re-founded the Celtic monastery Cor Tewdws, whose ruins are thought to lie under today’s St. Illtyd's Church in Llantwit Major.  The legendary college of Theodosius was founded c.395, said to be “the oldest college in the world”, but thought to be have burned down in the mid-5th century. According to the 12th century Book of Landaff, St Dubricius commissioned Illtud to re-establish the college, and the place came to be known as Llanilltud Fawr (Llantwit Major). At its peak the college is said to have had a thousand pupils and educated many of the great Celtic Saints such as David, Patrick and Gildas.

St. Illtyd's Church in Llantwit Major

The Life of St Illtud claims he was a Breton prince and a knight of King Arthur and a Welsh account states he was given custody of the Grail, and consequently compared to Galahad.

Many of the Celtic Saints did not evangelise as such but would live the life of a hermit helping the poor and sick. We can trace their geographic spread by the number of llanau bearing a saint’s name. A llan was a sacred enclosure of consecrated ground required to bury the dead, such as Llanbadarn (St Padarn), Llandeilo (St Teilo) and Llandudno (St Tudno).

Arthur’s curious link with the saints is found in accounts of his passing and the lists of the Survivors of the battle of Camlann.

The Seven Survivors of Camlann
So far we have seen the three survivors of the battle of Camlann as listed in an embedded triad in the 10th century Arthurian tale Culhwch and Olwen; Morfran son of Tegid, Sanddef Pryd Angel and Cynwyl Sant, who was the last to leave Arthur.

Yet, by the 17th century the number of survivors from Camlann was listed as seven. Rachel Bromwich [Trioedd Ynys Prydein, University of Wales Press, 4th Edition, 2014] questions if this was later Welsh tradition simply following the early Arthurian poem The Spoils of Annwn, from the Book of Taliesin, which lists seven survivors in a series of triplets, such as; “Except seven none rose up from the Fortress of the Mound”, and so on. However, the survivors of this raid on the Otherworld are not named, yet we assume Arthur to be one.

The ‘seven survivors’ may well be remnants from an ancient tradition as Bromwich suggests; the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr, names seven survivors from the war between Ireland and the Island of the Mighty. A note in Evan Evans’s (1731-1788) notebook (Panton MS 13) gives seven names for the Survivors of Camlann. Bromwich considers Evans' text to be a copy of Lewis Morris' copy of 17th century manuscript Peniarth 185. The names in Evans’s text are quite different from the seven survivors listed in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi:

“Here are the names of the men who escaped from the battle of Camlan: Sandde Angel Form, because of his beauty. Morfran son of Tegid, because of his ugliness. St Cynfelyn, from the speed of his horse, St Cedwyn, from the World’s blessing, St Petrog from the strength of his spear, Derfel the Strong from his strength, Geneid the Tall, from his speed. The year of Christ when the battle of Camlan took place was 542.”[Bromwich, TYP] 

In his 12th century History of the Kings of Britain Geoffrey of Monmouth records but three dates; significantly he includes the date of the end of Arthur’s reign as 542. Evans may have been influenced by Geoffrey’s account with regard to the date, yet we do not know where he obtained his information; it may have been a Welsh tradition totally independent of Geoffrey. However, it is close enough to the 537 date given for the battle in the 10th century Annales Cambriae (Welsh Annals).

In Evans’s manuscript we find the names are consistent in Sandde and Morfran from Culwch and Olwen, but Cynwal Sant has changed to St Cynfelyn, with the addition of three other saints, with Geneid the Tall unidentified, although it has been suggested he was Hefeydd Hir, one of the seven chieftains left in Britain when Brân departed on his disastrous journey to Ireland in Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr.

Next we will look at the four saints who survived Camlann: St Cynfelyn, from the speed of his horse



Notes:

The nine Saint's Lives:
Illtud
Cadoc by Lifris of Llancarfan
Cadoc by Carranog of Llancarfan
Gildas by Caradoc of Llancarfan
Padarn
Carannog (Carantoc)
Goeznovius
Efflam
Miracula Sancte Marie Laudunensis by Herman of Tournai

It is also worth mentioning that the Life of St Kentigern features the wildman Lailoken who may have inspired the northern Merlin legend; and the Life of San Galgano (and the formal record of the canonisation in 1185) which contains perhaps the origin of the sword in the stone.

* * * 

St Wigstan: The Story of a Murdered Anglo Saxon Prince

According the the Resting Paces of the Saints (Secgan be þam Godes sanctum þe on Engla lande ærost reston) St Wigstan lies in the monastery of Repton near the river Trent.

Death of A Mercian Prince
We know little of Wigstan, he is entirely absent from the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, the early kalendars, the Old English Martyrology, and of course lived after Bede's time. Later Medieval accounts of his life claim he was descended from the Mercian kings; he was son of Wigmund, in some sources named as the Archbishop of York, whose father was Wiglaf, king of Mercia, and Wigstan's mother Ælfflæd was the daughter of Ceolwulf I, king of Mercia 821 to 823, the last of an ancient Mercian Royal line descending from Offa.

St Wigstan, south porch of St Wystan's Church,
Repton, Derbyshire

Yet, Wigstan is recorded among the early Anglo Saxon saints in the Secgan be þam Godes sanctum þe on Engla lande ærost reston (The Resting Paces of the Saints). This text, in its current form, is found in two 11th century manuscripts listing the resting places of 89 saints, almost all Anglo Saxon. Studies have shown that the list was copied into the current manuscripts in 1031, but contains much older sections. The list appears to be in two parts; the first names 39 saints and their resting places located by references to nearby rivers. Yet the references to rivers is absent from the second part. Rollason (1981) notes that the first part records mainly saints of the 7th and 8th centuries with some of the 9th century, nearly all enshrined in the places mentioned before the end of the 9th century. Whereas the second part contains mainly saints from the 10th century. Rollason (1981) argues that the first part of the list of resting places is a compilation in its own right dating from the 9th century with further saints added in the 10th century. That Wigstan appears in this early list, recorded as lying in the monastery of Repton near the river Trent, is seen as evidence for his existence.

Study of St Wystan's church at Repton supports the evidence of the list of Resting Places. Architectural investigation of the church has revealed that during the Anglo Saxon period two passageways were knocked through to the crypt, presumably to provide access for pilgrims to the saint's shrine. Archaeological investigations at the church found a group of richly decorated Anglo Saxon burials around the east end of the church, probably high status Mercians enjoying the sacred profits of resting near the saint.

The crypt was constructed in the first half of the 8th century (before 740), and is thought to have originally been a baptistery, as it is built on top of a natural spring. It was later converted for use as a mausoleum, with the first interment being that of King Æthelbald of Mercia, who was murdered at Seckington Castle in 757.

The crypt was incorporated into the later St Wystan's Church, now the Anglican parish church, which was constructed on the site of Repton monastery, founded in the 7th century as a community of both monks and nuns by the Mercian Royal family. Werburgh, daughter of Wulfhere, King of Mercia from 658 until 675, is cited as one of Repton's first abbesses. The east-end of the monastery church (the chancel), and the crypt, were renovated by King Wiglaf of Mercia. This site became a burial vault for several Mercian kings of the 8th-9th century, including Æthelbald (d.757), and Wiglaf (d.839). The early Mercian part of this church has been described as "one of the most precious survivals of Anglo-Saxon architecture in England".

Later accounts of Wigstan's life claim that on his father's death in 849 AD he inherited the throne but turned it down in order to serve God. He appointed his mother Ælfflæd as regent. Following Wigmund's death, a Mercian noble named Beorhtwulf (= bright wolf), usurped the kingship and forced Ælfflæd to marry his son, Beorhtfrith. Wigstan refused to allow the marriage, since Beorhtfrith was a kinsman of Wigmund's and was also Wigstan's godfather.

Florence of Worcester (d.1118) records the event:

“Beorhtfrith, son of Beorhtwulf, king of Mercia, unjustly put to death his cousin, St Wigstan on the Kalends of June [1st June], being the eve of Pentecost. He was grandson of two of the kings of Mercia; his father, Wigmund, being the son of King Wiglaf, and his mother, Ælfflæd, the daughter of King Ceolwulf. His corpse was carried to a monastery which was famous in that age, called Repton, and buried in the tomb of his grandfather, King Wiglaf. Miracles from heaven were not wanting in testimony of his martyrdom; for a column of light shot up to heaven from the spot where the innocent saint was murdered, and remained visible to the inhabitants of that place for 30 days.”

The story of Wigstan's murder on 1st June can be found in the Passio sancti Wigstani, the earliest recensions may well derive from a 9th century original; the tale they tell is supported by the Worcester Chronicle (entry 849-50), and claims that Beorhtfrith went to visit Wigstan seemingly in peace but, when the two greeted each other, he struck Wigstan on the head with the shaft of his dagger and his servant ran him through with his sword. Later accounts of Wigstan's murder claim the spot was revealed by a shaft of light.

Wigstan's body was taken to the Mercian monastery at Repton, where he was buried in the crypt alongside his grandfather King Wiglaf and his father Wigmund. Miracles soon followed and the crypt quickly became a place of pilgrimage and from the 9th century Wigstan was considered a saint.

The Anglo Saxon crypt, St Wystan's church, Repton

Site of the Martyrdom
The site of the martyrdom was called “Wistanstowe”, somewhere in Mercia, usually identified with the village of Wistow in Leicestershire. The Old English suffix “stow” indicating a meeting place. Other sites have been identified as Wistanstow, in Shropshire, and Wistow in Cambridgeshire. Yet, according to the legend, the true site of Wigstan's murder is betrayed by the miraculous appearance of human hair on the anniversary of his death, 1st June. This was said to occur annually for many years, and led to Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury investigating the phenomenon in 1187.

The stained-glass windows in the parish church of Wistanstow (Shropshire), designed by notable British artist Margaret Agnes Rope, show the miraculous pillar of light leading to discovery of the earthly remains of Wigstan.

It would appear then that Wigstan was murdered in a Mercian power-struggle in 849. Thacker (1985) suggests that it seems likely that Wigstan was the victim of a dynastic struggle between his family and that of his uncle Beorhtwulf and his son Beorhtfrith, who may have inherited claims to the Midland Kingdom from an earlier Mercian sub-king Beornwulf (823-25) and possibly the Beornred desposed by Offa in 757.

It seems the prestige of marriage to a princess descended from the last branch of the ancient Royal house of Mercia was the reason for Wigstan's murder.

The Mercian Monastery
The choice of  Repton as the place Wigstan's body was taken is significant owing to its associations with the ancient Mercian Royal family. Æthelbald chose his burial place at Repton, the place were Guthlac entered religious orders before departing for a solitary life. Indeed, the cult of Wigstan appeared at the centre of a large Royal Anglo Saxon estate focused on Repton and Glenn, some thirty miles distant, and close to other cult centres at Wistow and Wigstow.

There is certainly strong architectural and archaeological evidence for a 9th century shrine and cult at Repton, almost certainly that of Wigstan (Thacker, 1985). The increase in pilgrims required additional staircases to be constructed to facilitate multiple access to the crypt.

The monastery was abandoned in 873 when it was overrun by the Viking Great Army who made Repton their winter headquarters that year. When they left they destroyed the monastery, only the mausoleum survived.

The Winter Camp
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that a large force of Danes landed in East Anglia in 865 destroying the kingdom, then moved on to Northumbria and Mercia. This Great Army (micel here) was said to be led by the three sons of the semi-mythical Ragnar Lodbrok. This was a change in tactics for the Vikings who, up to now, had been content carrying out coastal raids on wealthy monasteries and churches, but now seemed intent on conquering and settling in England.

After plundering England for seven years this massive Viking war band located their winter camp in Lincolnshire; an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 872 records ‘Here the army took winter quarters at Turc’s island’. The precise location of the winter camp defied detection for many years but recent excavations led by Julian Richards and Dawn Hadley (2016) have confirmed the location as Torksey, on the River Trent, about 10 miles northwest of Lincoln. Here metal detectorists uncovered one of the richest sources in England of Anglo-Saxon coins, including over 100 tiny copper-alloy stycas from Northumbria in addition to Arabic coins (dirhams), chopped up silver bullion and pieces of hackgold. They also found smithing tools, spindle whorls and needles, fishing weights and over 300 lead gaming pieces. This rich assemblage all came from six large fields immediately to the east of the Trent where a steep cliff above the river formed the boundary of the camp. During times of flood this it would have formed a natural island between the river on one side and marshland; Turc's island.

Turc's Island after Hadley and Richards, 2016

The strategic position and natural defences of Torksey did not go unnoticed by the Anglo Saxons and after the Viking army left the site became a Saxon borough or 'burh'. Both coins and pottery (the distinctive Torksey ware), were produced on the site in the early 11th century, which according to Domesday Book was a royal holding in 1066.

After overwintering at Turc's island, the following year the Danes sailed up the Trent to Repton in Derbyshire. In 873 the monastery was looted by the Great Army forcing the nuns and monks to desert it, taking the relics of St Wigstan with them.

When Martin Biddle and Birthe Kjblbye-Biddle (1992) investigated the Repton site in the 1970s and 1980s they found evidence of a D-shaped enclosure with a massive V-shaped ditch, 4m wide and 4m deep. This enclosure used the Trent as a boundary on one side (closing the 'D') and the Mercian royal shrine of St Wigstan as a gatehouse to control access on the opposite side.

Evidence for the Danish presence was found around the east end of the church. During the Biddles' excavations a number of furnished graves were uncovered at the site in the churchyard, immediately north and south of the crypt; one contained silver pennies securely dating the grave to the mid-870s.
The most significant grave, originally marked by a 12 in square wooden post, was found north of the church containing the skeleton of a 35-45 year old man, about 6 ft tall.

This individual showed evidence of weapon trauma; he had received a blow to the skull, and a sword-cut to the thigh had severed the femoral artery. Around his neck a leather string held two glass beads, a leaded bronze fastener  and a small silver Thor's hammer. Between his thighs had been placed the tusk of a boar and lower down the humerus of a jackdaw.

Between 1980-86 the Biddles also investigated reports of a mass burial discovered around 1686 by Thomas Walker who discovered a two-roomed subterranean structure some 15 ft square, originally roofed by 'decayed wooden joyces', possibly the abandoned mausoleum constructed to hold the body of the Mercian monarch Merewahl who died in 757AD.

Inside this structure was a stone coffin, containing 'a Skeleton of a Humane Body Nine Foot long.' Speculation has led to claims that this was the body of Ivar the Boneless. Around this singular interment the disarticulated remains of over 260 people were found - the original report claimed there were 'One Hundred Humane Skeletons, with their Feet pointing to the Stone Coffin.' The entombment is without parallel in Europe during the Viking age, and it is interesting that one saga notes that Ivar died and was buried in England 'in the manner of former times', an allusion to the fact he was interred in a barrow. At least some of these individuals must have been part of the Great Army who died at Repton during the winter of 873-874.

Repton winter camp 873, after Biddle & Biddle, 1992

Barely 3 miles to the southeast of Repton, on higher ground overlooking the Trent, a group of 59 small burial mounds was discovered at Heath Wood at Ingleby. Julian Richards identified some of these burials as cremations and goods found with the bodies also appeared to have been through the cremation fires; sword and buckles, nails and wire embroidery all suggested these had been Danish cremations. This Danish cremation cemetery is quite unique in Britain and was in use between 873-7, the time that the Great Army were active in this area of Mercia.

When the Great Army left Repton, destroying the monastery buildings and setting fire to the church, they went on to complete the conquest of Mercia in 874, driving the Mercian king Burgred into exile and replacing him with Ceowulf II.

A Ray of Light at Evesham 
The relics of St Wigstan that were removed by the fleeing monks and nuns during the Viking attack on Repton in 873, were later returned, although there is no evidence that the monastery ever recovered to any great extent. King Cnut had the saint's remains removed from Repton again in the 11th century to be reburied at Evesham Abbey in Worcestershire.

The Normans were sceptical of the sainthood of the many local saints of Anglo Saxon England and decided to subject the relics of local saints to “ordeal by fire”; if the remains burnt then they did not belong to a saint, but if they survived the test they were indeed genuinely Holy.

In the year 1077, Walter of Cerisy, the first Norman Abbot of Evesham, was surprised at the number of relics held at the monastery which he duly subjected to ordeal by fire. When it came to the turn of the relics of St. Wigstan, the heat of the fire had no effect on them, but the relics began to shine. Walter returned Wigstan's relics back to their shrine, when he dropped the saint’s head on the ground which then started to sweat, while a sweet fragrance spread throughout the church. Wigstan was truly a Holy martyr. From that moment on Walter is said to have accepted the holiness of the Anglo Saxon saints.

A 'Vita Sancti Wistani' (Life of St Wigstan) was included in the Chronicle of the monastery of Evesham (Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham) written in the main part by Thomas of Marlborough, abbot from 1230 to 1236. The earliest parts of the Chronicon, concerning the Mercian St Egwin (d.717) were written by the 12th century prior Dominic of Evesham who had also written a 'Life' of St Wigstan. The Chronicon was continued to the year 1418 by an unknown hand.

As we have seen above, most of what we know of St Wigstan is derived from later sources; Florence of Worcester's 12th century account may well have been the source of Thomas of Marlborough. Yet, these later accounts may well have been based on a 9th century text.

Two 'passions' of St Wigstan have survived, one in the 14th century manuscript of saints lives' held at Gotha in Germany. The other was preserved in the British Library manuscript Harley 2253.These two accounts are both similar to the version of Thomas of Marlborough but differ in slight detail; one claims the top of Wigstan's head was sliced off (perhaps like Thomas Becket at Canterbury). However, neither of these 'passions' makes reference to the translation to Evesham in the 11th century, and therefore must be earlier than Thomas's account. Rollason (1981) suggests a version is likely to have been written at Repton in the 9th century before the Danish attack.

In 1207 the tower of Evesham Abbey church collapsed, falling debris smashed the reliquary of St Wigstan breaking the skull of the martyr. Part of the broken skull and a bone from the arm were sent to Repton at the request of the canons. These relics of the saint were enshrined in their new priory church at Repton, now demolished, rather than in the ancient church which is now the parish church of St Wystan.

The Anglo-Saxon Chancel at the east end of St. Wystan's Church, Repton
and below it the famous crypt. 

Wigstan's relics were kept at Evesham until the Reformation when the Monastery was dissolved and destroyed in the 16th century and the relics of all its saints disappeared.


Copyright © 2017 Edward Watson
http://clasmerdin.blogspot.co.uk/


Sources:
Martin Biddle & Birthe Kjblbye-Biddle, Repton and the Vikings, Antiquity 66, 1992.
John Crook, English Medieval Shrines, Boydell & Brewer, 2011.
Dawn Hadley and Julian Richards, The Winter Camp Of The Viking Great Army, Ad 872–3, Torksey, Lincolnshire, The Antiquaries Journal, 96, 2016.
David Rollason, The Search for Wigstan, Vaughan Paper 27, Uinversity of Leicester, 1981.
Alan Thacker, Kings, Saints and Monasteries in pre-Viking Mercia, Midland History 10, 1985.

* * *

St Brigid at Beckery

1st February St Brigid's Day

The Causeway
The A39 road from Street to Glastonbury crosses the River Brue at Pomparles Bridge following an artificial “Causeway” through the Somerset marsh. It is here, according John Leland antiquary to Henry VIII, that King Arthur's sword Excalibur was cast into the water as he crossed to the Isle of Avalon after being mortally wounded at the battle of Camlan. The name of the bridge is said to have derived from the French pont perilleux, or “perilous bridge.”

The first stone bridge was constructed in the 12^th century to transport local Blue Lias stone from quarries at Street to rebuild the Abbey at Glastonbury after the fire of 1184. In 1881 while drains were being laid in the fields to the east of this Causeway a long forgotten ancient road was discovered running parallel to it at a distance of 50 or 60 yards. Local antiquarian John Morland observed massive horizontal oak beams and deeply-sunk oak piles just south of the river, which he considered to be the southern causeway onto the peninsula of probable Roman origin as suggested by the name Street, from the Latin 'strata' for a paved road. Roman pottery was recovered from beneath the structure and a 12th -13th century spur from the road surface.

However, carbon dating suggests that construction of the Causeway took place between 650 AD and 780 AD. From the date of Pomparles Bridge it is concluded that a Medieval causeway, connecting Street with Glastonbury island, replaced an earlier causeway crossing the Brue at the North end.

The earliest known name for the settlement at Street was “Lantokay” meaning the sacred enclosure of the Celtic saint Kea. The parish churchyard is on the first flood-free ground near the river Brue and considered one of the oldest churches in Somerset. The oval form of the large churchyard suggests a “llan” a sacred enclosure typical of an early 6th century construction surrounded by marshland.

Situated southwest of Glastonbury, below the ridge of Wearyall Hill, is a small mound known today as “Bride's Mound” where the remains of an ancient chapel have been found. Both Beckery Chapel and Street church stand 10m above sea level, significantly it would seem, at each end of the ancient causeway.

Brigid's Bell
 It is claimed that Brigid left relics here when she returned to Ireland; her purse, collar, bell and weaving instruments. Stories tell of Gildas making a bell for Brigid at her request, although it is not necessarily identified as the bell she left at Beckery. The Life of St Kea states he also received a bell from Gildas before he left Somerset for Cornwall.

In the early 20^th century a Glastonbury man purchased a wooden box in local sale which was found to contain a small bell wrapped in linen. He took the bell to the British Museum where experts described it as an ancient Celtic bell. In the 1920s the bell passed to the man's great niece who lent it to Alice Buckton who was impressed by the possibility that it may have belonged to St Brigid. In 1907 Buckton became interested in the spiritual and creative movements in Glastonbury after meeting Wellesley Tudor Pole, an occultist and visionary. In 1913 Buckton purchased Glastonbury's Tor House from the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and transformed the old schoolhouse and former inn into “The Chalice Well”.  Dion Fortune, perhaps the most important figure in the revival of occultism in Britain, stayed here with Buckton and wrote about her in her book “Avalon of the Heart”. Buckton used the bell in ceremonies at Chalice Well but after her death in 1944 its whereabouts are unknown.

Alice Buckton with Bride's Bell (L) compare with St Patrick's Bell from National Museum, Dublin

Beckery
The area today known as “Beckery” (from the earliest recorded name of Beckeria) has been variously called “Bride's Hay”, “Bride's Hill” or “Bridget's Island”. However, the etymology of Beckery has caused much debate over the years. Both William of Malmesbury and John of Glastonbury call it “Beckeria, which is called Little Ireland”. Modern scholars accept this meaning giving the origin of the name as “Becc-Eriu” from the Irish “Little Ireland”. Yet, not all agree and suggest an English origin derived from the Old English “beocere” and “eg” meaning simply bee-keeper's island.

In deciding which of these derivations may be correct we need to consider why Brigid would come to Beckery. It is argued that Brigid came to visit St Patrick at Glastonbury who the Abbey claims as its own and was buried there; there is certainly a strong argument that Patrick may have been born in Somerset before being taken to Ireland by raiders. A strong Irish presence is known to have existed at Glastonbury, indeed the biographer of St Dunstan, known simply as “B”, claims that Dunstan was educated by Irish monks in the 10th century. In addition, Glastonbury sat conveniently on the pilgrimage route from Ireland to Rome.

Beth Frances makes the suggestion that monks from Wexford in south-east Ireland may have fled to Glastonbury following attacks by Vikings on their monastery. Beggerin (or Beggery) Island near Loch Garman harbour (Wexford town) shares a number of commonalties with Beckery. Frances states both are sites of early Christian monasteries, both are on islands in marshy areas but with access to important river routes and the coast.

On a mound at Beggerin is a small 13th century stone chapel surrounded by a graveyard. This island is thought to be a monastic settlement founded by St Ibar in the late 5th century. The monastery was raided by Vikings in 819/821 and closed during the middle of the 12th century. Ibar was a bishop working in Ireland around the same time as St Patrick and came into conflict over who should be the leader of the church in Ireland. However, legends associated with Beggerin Island in Wexford, appear to be as muddled as those attached to Beckery.

In the 5^th century the area around Wexford was apparently under the control of the clan Ui Bairrche and their neighbours the Fortharta. St Brigid was from the Kildare section of the Fortharta, where she founded her community at “the sacred place of the oak tree” (Cill Dara). Reports claim that a very old oak tree grew on the island at Beckery. An island in Loch Garman was known as Oak Island.

There is ample evidence of an Irish presence in south-west Wales during the 5th century, such as the Déisi. Brigid may have travelled from the Loch Garman area and arrived in south-west Wales where there is a church dedicated to the saint in the Pembrokeshire village of St Brides, the traditional spot for her arrival in Britain. It is claimed by some that she may have established a convent at St Brides, the remains of which can be seen on either side of the driveway to St Brides castle. The church as St Brides dates from the 13th century replacing an earlier chapel and cemetery that stood closer to the sea and has now been eroded away.

St Bridget's Church Brean

At Brean on the Somerset coast there is another church dedicated to St Brigid, also dated to the 13th century, but the dedication to the Irish saint suggests a possible early Celtic Christian settlement. The isolation of the church and the presence of a sacred spring coupled with its association with Brigid supports an early foundation. About a mile from the church is what appears to be a Dark Age cemetery, dated to about 650 AD, although possibly not connected to the church.

Frances suggests that Irish monks fleeing to Britain to escape the Viking raids at Wexford in the 9^th century may account for the dedication of these churches to the Irish saint, bringing with them the memory of the name of their “Little Ireland” and providing an explanation for the Irish monks who educated St Dunstan at Glastonbury.

Yet the question remains unanswered as to whether these Irish monks came to Somerset because of the Glastonbury associations with St Patrick and St Brigid, or if the monks brought tales of these saints with them?

Copyright © 2016 Edward Watson
http://clasmerdin.blogspot.co.uk/

Source:
Beth Frances, Did Saint Bridget Visit Glastonbury, 2008 (privately published).
Profits go to the Friends of Bride’s Mound.

Edited once or twice

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