and their topographical distribution, may have assumed the tone of
exact or statistical inductions; it is but right that they should be
qualified by an admission that, from that point of view, they are
subject to some elements of discount. It has been already admitted
that more extinct St. Werburghs may come to light; and of course it
is impossible to foresee to what extent the inferences may be thereby
disturbed; although it is not expected that they can be substantially
over-balanced. Indeed, there are not wanting other spots which have
names with a suspicious possibility of being corruptions of the name of
Werburgh, similar to those that we have seen, where they are confirmed
by the actual survival of the dedication itself; as in the cases of
Warburton and Warbstow. Of these are two eminences, the situations of
which are strikingly similar to that at Wembury, as if chosen by the
same eye. They are close to the sea shore, but in other parts of the
south coast. These are a hill, called “Warberrys,” close to Torquay;
and another called “Warbarrow,” in the isle of Purbeck. But neither of
these have traces of the dedication, and both names are quite likely to
have had other causes; nor can the places be directly connected with
any known record of Æthelbald. Therefore they shall not be enlisted
into the present enquiry. There is also a Wareberrewe near Wallingford,
with the present dedication of S. Laurence.
The indications, that have been above induced, however, from the
occurrences of the dedications of St. Werburgh in south England, as
well as those of St. Cuthbert in Wessex, are very distinct and definite
as guide-posts in historical topography; being strictly national
or dynastic. But St. Helen, as compared with them, has the great
disadvantage of being catholic and illustrious; and the possibility,
of course, exists, for a catholic dedication to have had sometimes
other causes besides that here attributed--the personal veneration of a
conqueror. It is, however, thought that the comparative numbers in the
different provinces, that have been offered, may help any judgment upon
this point. One cause of aberration, in the case of the St. Helens may
be, that some examples may have been “St. Helen and Holy Rood;” and, as
often happens to a joint dedication, one half may have been worn off by
grinding time: sometimes the first, sometimes the last; so that some
of what are now only known as Holy Rood, or Holy Cross, may have been
originally St. Helens. On the other hand, the dedication of Holy Rood
may, in some cases, have been independently attached to churches, that
have arisen where there had already been a cross of a martyr, which
had brought a great resort to a spot of reputed eminent sanctity.[105]
Or, as in the legend of Abingdon, where a cross, or a piece of
the True Cross has been said to have been miraculously found: or a
wonder-working Crucifix, as at Waltham Abbey. The local distribution of
Holy Roods does not shew any estimable counter-balance of that of the
St. Helens; and the Holy Roods themselves are believed to have had a
tendency to pass into St. Saviour, or Christchurch.
* * * * *
One very general agent in the obliteration of those dedications that
are national, or otherwise capable of rendering historical indications,
has been particularly active in the English part of this island. This
is the tendency to depose them, in favour of the greater saints, who
are recognized and honoured throughout Christendom. This, as might have
been expected, is more particularly the case of St. Mary. It is likely
that many of the churches with this dedication are amplifications of
sanctuaries of the more ancient and national kind. So strong was this
tendency that, where it did not drown out the original tutelar name
of a church; it must at least be satisfied by the addition of a “Lady
Chapel.” Such a process of change may often be seen actually at work.
The fine large church at Marden, Herefordshire, is said, both by Leland
and Browne Willis, to have the dedication of St. Ethelbert; and so
no doubt it has: but the present officers of the church, if asked,
pronounce it to be of St. Mary. A glance at the building accounts
for this. Within the church, at, perhaps, about twenty feet from
the western wall, is preserved an uncommon relique, the well of St.
Ethelbert; murdered by Offa, about a mile off, but whose shrine was at
Marden, until translated to Hereford Cathedral. There can be no doubt
that the well occupied the focus of the original small sanctuary that
was first raised over the reliques of the martyr; and which was on the
brink of the river, that flows near the western front of the church,
and so prevented enlargement in that direction. The large increase of
the church eastward, in accordance with the practice of the later age,
having been devoted to the name of St. Mary. Another similar case, of
Middleham in Richmondshire, has been kindly brought to notice by Mr.
W. H. D. Longstaffe. The original dedication is St. Alkelda, whose
martyrdom, being strangled by two female servants, is represented on
glass. Her traditional altar-tomb, is westward of the chancel arch of
the collegiate choir of St. Mary, founded by King Richard III. The only
other traces of St. Alkelda is a church in her name at Giggleswick,
some miles westward.
* * * * *
That sort of conviction, which arises from a gradual accumulation
of facts, upon what had at first started as a suspicion or a guess;
cannot be so vividly imparted to a reader. But even if what has been
said above should have been successful; it will be very far from
having exhausted the materials of this kind of enquiry: will only
have served, by one or two examples, to shew the value of a neglected
class of monuments, which, it is thought, have not yet been made to
yield up their teaching. At the best, what has here been done, can be
no more than the exposure of two or three fragments of a vast ruin,
co-extensive with the land; of which the plan should be restored by a
comparative registration or cartography of the whole. In the Celtic
portions of these islands, the dedications of the churches retain much
of their original or primitive topical distribution; shewing, as they
have sometimes already been made to do, the maternity of missionary
centres to offshoot churches. In the Teutonized portions of England, it
is likely that they have another and greater lesson. They are here, in
addition, believed to be able to shew, to a certain extent, what may
be called an ethnical stratification; which, if carefully observed,
would often mark out the extension of revolutions or conquests: more
especially in those early times, of which written history is scanty or
altogether wanting.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Cod. Dip. CXLIII.
[2] Dr. Lappenburg (I. 38) describes the people of Warwickshire and
Worcestershire as the “Gewissi.” But the “Gevissæ” was the ancient
name of the southern main stem of the West Saxons, who made their way
into Somerset and Devon (Bæda. H. E. III. 7), and plainly a name of
distinction from the Huiccii. All the pre-Christian pedigrees of the
West Saxon leaders have an early name “Gewis,” which has been, with
great likelihood, supposed to have been the origin of the name of the
Gevissæ. In some only of the pedigrees, this name is next preceded by
“Wig.” This seems to point to a division of the leadership between two
kinsmen, perhaps brothers; and the Wiccii or Wigornians to be derived
from the latter.
[3] A.S. Chron., “Feathan leag”--Welsh Chronicles, “_Ffery llwg_.”
[4] Dr. Guest in Archæological Journal, vol. xix., p. 197.
[5] Thesaurus, I. 169.
[6] Dr. Guest and Mr. Freeman, and their followers, as the Saturday
Review, and the various school histories, which, having adopted the
innovation, are lauded in that journal.
[7] Prof. W. W. Skeat, Macmillan, Feb. 1879, p. 313.
[8] See “A Primæval British Metropolis,” Bristol, 1877, pp. 45-80.
[9] One of the obsolete ones was brought to mind by a paper read by Mr.
C. E. Davis, at Bath, in 1857: another is printed from the Register of
Worcester Cathedral in Thomas’s Survey, kindly pointed out by Mr. John
Taylor; so that others, unreckoned, may possibly be brought to light.
There is one, in addition to all those above mentioned, at Dublin; but,
as the dedications in Strongbow’s Dublin are no more than a post-Norman
colonisation of those at Bristol, it does not enter into our reckoning.
[10] The genealogical relation of St. Werburgh and Æthelbald will be
seen in this extract from Dr. Lappenberg’s Pedigree of the Kings of
Mercia:
Wybba.
|
+--------+--------------------------------+
| |
Penda, last Pagan King of Eawa, died A.D. 642.
Mercia, reigned A.D. 626-655. (Called “Rex Merciorum.”?)
| |
+--------------+------------+ +-------+-----+
| | | | |
Peada, K. of M. | Æthelred, K. of Alweo. Osmod.
A.D. 655-656. | M. A.D. 675-704, | |
| died A.D. 715. | |
| | | Eanwulf.
Wulfhere, K. of M. | | |
A.D. 656-675. | | |
| | | Thingferth.
+---------------+----+ | | |
| | | | | |
Cenred, K. of M. | Beorhtwald, | | |
A.D. 704-709. | Sub-King of | | |
| Wiccia A.D. | | |
| 636. | | OFFA,
| Coelred, K. ÆTHELBALD, K. of M.
St. WERBURGH, of M., A.D. K. of M. A.D. 757-798.
died about 709-716. A.D. 716-757
A.D. 700.
[11] The birth, in the West of England, of this assiduous propagator
of the great mediæval embodiment of civilisation, zealous devotee of
the Church, and prominent European statesman, is so important a fact
in our ethnical topography as to deserve a passing, though attentive,
glance. On the authority of those who personally knew him, he was born
near Exeter, about the year 680; but, although no Saxon Conquest had
yet extended so far westward, he bore a Saxon name, although in the
midst of a Celtic people. From this, and from other circumstances also
mentioned of his early life, it may be inferred that his father was a
peaceful Saxon colonist, in advance of conquest, and still a pagan; and
that his mother was a British Christian. He is, therefore, the earliest
recorded example of that irrepressible compound of the two races that
has since made so many deep and broad marks upon the outer world. This
fact, of a pacific international intercourse antecedent to conquest,
was so directly in conflict with evolved history, that it has provoked
an ineffectual attempt to subvert the testimony of it, by questioning
the undoubted reading of the name as being that of Exeter. (E. A.
Freeman, Esq., in Archæol. Journal, vol. xxx., or Macmillan M., Sep.
1873, p. 474).
Another, but later, testimony gives us the name of the place near
Exeter where he was born: Crediton, in a deep and most fertile valley
of that middle district in Devon which is the interval between the
highlands of Dartmoor and Exmoor, but rather to the south-west of that
district. Here there is reason to believe Christianity had already
been established at a much earlier time, by Croyde, or Creed, an Irish
missionary virgin, who has left her name at other places throughout
both Devon and Cornwall. The incredulity, that Crediton was the
birthplace of S. Bonifatius, was vindicated by saying that it has “no
_ancient_ authority whatever.” It has not contemporary authority like
that for “near Exeter,” which, however, it strongly confirms, and
which, for English topography of so early a date, is almost unique in
its explicitness, but it has an authority as ancient as we are obliged
to be content with for nearly all we know of those times, and far
more respectable than most of it. The authority is a church-service
book, still preserved in Exeter Cathedral, compiled by Bp. Grandisson
(died A.D. 1366), and attested by his autograph. If this had been a
mere outdoor tradition, and had rested upon no more than the personal
authority of this most distinguished man, it would even then have been
the very highest evidence of its kind. But it does no such thing. Bp.
Grandisson is not the _author_ of the book any more than St. Osmund is
the author of the Usages of Sarum. He is the codifier of the immemorial
observances of the church, at which the contemporary biographer of St.
Boniface attests that he received his earliest teaching; and of the
very existence of which church their irreproachable attestation is by a
long interval the earliest record.
But there is another evidence that this great man of his age was
known, to his compatriots in his own province, as one of themselves.
Of this they have left a substantial monument in the dedications of
two churches still remaining in Devon, not in his ecclesiastical name,
by which the rest of the world knew him, but in his birth-name of
“Winfrid” by which they had remembered him. The two more distant extant
dedications of Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, and Banbury, Cheshire, on the
contrary, in their dedications of “St. Boniface” are mere reflections
of his realised continental greatness back upon his own island.
Winfrith, near Lulworth, in Dorset, probably had a third western
example of the dedication, for although the present church is of
Norman structure, and with a different dedication (St. Christopher),
most likely, as in many other cases, an earlier sanctuary existed in
Winfrid’s name.
[12] What may be presumed to be another dedication of St. Werburgh
has since been traced to its place, and may be reckoned as an eighth
of those in the home kingdom, at its southern frontier. Among the
land-marks (A.D. 849) of a place called “Coftun,” is Werburgh’s cross
(“in Wærburge rode”) Cod. Dip. CCLXII. This has been found to be
Cofton Hackett, in that north point of Worcestershire that abuts upon
Staffordshire and Shropshire.
[13] Lib. v.
[14] See Warner p. 228. Collinson’s Som., vol. I. Bath, p. 53.
[15] Thomas, Worc. Cath., 1736, Append. No. 9. p. 6. It might be worth
while to search for remains of it in plantations thereabout. It is
distinct from the chapel of St. Blaise, and on a different eminence.
[16] Saturday Rev., Ap. 24, 1875, p. 533.
[17] Reg. Worc. Priory, Camden Soc.
[18] Page 105.
[19] 1846. Glaston. No. LXXXV.
[20] Cod. Dip., No. XCII.
[21] An account of A.S. Coins, &c. Communicated to the Numismatic
Society of London, by Jonathan Rashleigh, Esq., 1868.
[22] _Wessexonicè_ “vvrasseling.”
[23] No matter about their names. Their ethnical pedigree is distinctly
blazoned in their portraits.
[24] A remarkable cluster of four or five names, with the form “-hoe,”
occurs on the coast of North Devon, in that part where we have already
pointed to the unrecorded Mercian descents upon the Damnonian Britons
(see before pp. 119-121). This is very faraway from the much more
numerous assemblages of it, which are in the Anglian parts of England.
It has been contended that this name-form is a vestige of the Danes,
and, on this North Devon coast, the Danes might quite as likely have
left their mark, as the Mercians. But one of them, “Martinhoe,” is
formed by the addition of “-hoe” to the Christian dedication of
the church: not likely, therefore, to have been named by a pagan
colony. Another place, in East Devon not many miles from the Mercian
Widworthy-St. Cuthbert already mentioned, (p. 125), called “Pinhoe,”
is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 1001, to have been
burnt _by_ the Danes in revenge of a Saxon defeat. Would this revenge
have fallen upon their own countrymen? Also, close to the South Devon
dedication of St. Werburgh (p. 121), at Wembury, before mentioned,
are two examples of this name-form. One, the well-known “Hoe,” of
Plymouth; another, the village of “Hooe,” in the promontory itself,
where Wembury stands. Again, we have seen above that this very “regio,”
in Kent, which now engages us, was so named “Hogh” so early as A.D.
738. Very early for the Danes. Add to this: contemporary with the first
appearance of the Danes in Northumbria, at Lindisfarne, there was
already a place called “Billingahoh,” now “Billing_ham_,” near Stockton.
It is, therefore, evident that “-hoe” was here before the Danes,
and can be no other than an Anglian peculiarity. It is, therefore,
an additional evidence, and very strong confirmation, of what has
been already said of the great Mercian descent upon Devon, that this
Anglianism is found strewed in the very path of it.
It will presently be seen that, besides Simeon of Durham, and other
early chroniclers, both Somner and Camden took it for granted that
“-hoe” is only another form, or dialect of “-ham.” It is however
not unlikely, that, as in many other cases, a second mark of names
“-haw” or “-haugh,” said to be Danish, has been concurrent with and
undistinguished from this.
[25] Cod. Dip., No. LXXXV.
[26] 8_b_.
[27] First mentioned by Beda as “Clofeshoch,” and in K. Alfred’s
translation “Clofeshooh.”
[28] See Cod. Dip. _passim_, for other varieties of the name.
[29] Two S. Chronicles, Oxford, 1565.
[30] It is to be regretted that editors of ancient texts, have not more
generally extended their care to the preservation of marginal and other
adventitious notes, even when they are of comparatively much later date
than the texts, which of course are their chief care. Such valuable
fragments are in imminent peril at the present day; for whenever a new
discovery of ancient books or records is now brought to the notice
of the most distinguished experts, the very first piece of advice is
that they shall be “cleaned,” “repaired,” and “skilfully” rebound.
See, among others, examples in the Historical Manuscripts Commission,
_passim_. Why the binding, and even the _status quo_ itself, is a part
of the essence of such things, as monuments. But manuscripts, with far
less excuse, are following the churches on the broad way to refaction,
as it may be mildly called.
When the fanciers of books, especially in London, as well as experts
in manuscripts, make a fortunate acquisition of anything, both fine
and unique; after the usual notes of admiration, such as “truly
marvellous,” etc., they go on to say, “but it deserves a better
jacket.” And at once order it to be stripped of its monumental
covering, and scoured of the autumnal tints of many ages; its pedigree,
contained in ancient shelf-marks, and autographs, is discarded;
often valuable notarial records of events that have for safety, like
monuments in churches, been entered on the covers and fly-leaves,
are lost; and it is finally converted into a monument of nineteenth
century skill in smooth morocco, “antique style,” &c. All that is
really wanted, however, is either a box-case, or other apparatus for
protection. Keep charters or papers nearly as you do Bank of England
Notes. These are never bound for safe-keeping. On the outsides of these
unattached bindings, or other provisions for safe-keeping, can be
lavished whatever munificence, or luxury of modern art, may be thought
to be a sufficient tribute of admiration to the object contained.
[31] Introd. LXVIII.
[32] See Strype’s Works _passim_, where above 100 transactions of Heath
are referred to, and above 50 of Wotton.
[33] Edn. 1587, p. 196.
[34] 1607, folio.
[35] Oxon, 1659.
[36] Cod. Dip., No. LXXXV.
[37] Rochester, Num. IV.
[38] Chron. of Abingdon.
[39] Cod. D., No. CXIV.
[40] Chron. Sax. Oxon. 1692.
[41] Bæda H. E., cura Jo. Smith, Cant. 722, p. 1748.
[42] Concilia, I., 161.
[43] Monumenta Hist. Brit.
[44] Tanner Bibl. Brit., p. 703.
[45] Concilia, 1639, p. 242.
[46] Beda, 1838, p. 200.
[47] Gloss. Ant. Brit., 1733.
[48] Account of Worc. Cath., 1736, p. 120.
[49] A.S.K., I. 225.
[50] Will. Malm., G.P. 1870.
[51] Cod. Dip., 1848.
[52] Saxons in E., 1849, I, 191. The _name_, of Tewkesbury is, however,
apparently older than even this ancient monastery.
[53] Councils, Vol. III., Oxf., 1871, p. 122.
[54] Remains, p. 326.
[55] A-B. C., I., 224.
[56] New edition, by Rev. J. Baron, Oxford, 1850.
[57] C.D. CLXXXV.
[58] “Bercaria” is a synonym for the East Marsh at Cliffe.--Monasticon
Angl. V.I., p. 177, No. 52.
[59] Cod. D. CXXXV.
[60] Cod. D. CLVII.
[61] See Cleasby and Vigfusson, v. “Skaga.” The northern pagans,
afterwards such pests of Rochester, must have already landed here.
[62] Cod. D., No. LII.
[63] For example, Cod. D. No. CXI., which grants lands in the Hoo
itself, viz.: Islingham in Frindsbury, adjoining Cliffe, to Rochester
Cathedral.
[64] Geol. Surv. of E. & W., vol. IV., London Basin, 1872, pp. 34, 35.
[65] H. of Essex, I., 235.
[66] P. 236.
[67] Mon. Anglic. Lillechurch (alias Higham), Nos. IV. and V.
[68] Beda, H. E. III., 22.
[69] Beda, H. E., IV., 12.
[70] Hist. Kent, I., p. 528.
[71] See Dr. J. H. Pring, in the Somerset Arch. Soc.
[72] Cod. Dip., No. XXXVIII.
[73] One copy of the A.-S. Chronicle has “Middelseaxe” as early as A.D.
653, the other four testify this to be miswritten for “Middelengle.”
[74] Conc. pp. 291, 313, 314.
[75] A. Sax. Chron.
[76] 6-inch scale.
[77] C.D., No. CXVI.
[78] Sheet 1.
[79] Hist. of Kent, vol. I., p. 526-7.
[80] See also “Willelmus de Cloeville duas partes decime de Acle.”
(Mon. Angl., vol. I., 169.)
[81] Cod. Dip. CXXI.
[82] Hasted (vol. I. p. 531.) quotes a charter of Æthelred, A.D.
1001, granting to the Priory of Canterbury “Terram Clofiæ.” That is,
apparently, regranting to his newly instituted monks, this very piece
of land which Offa had earlier granted to the secular church. If so,
the orthography “Clofia,” points to its identity with “Cloveshoe.”
The nature of the document quoted by Hasted, may be gathered from a
contemporary one of the same kind, printed in the Monasticon. Vol. I.
p. 99. No. V.
[83] Cod. Dip., No. CCXVII.
[84] C. D., No. LXXVIII.
[85] There is some difference of this statement among the six texts.
Some include London, and some do not.
[86] Cod. Dip., No. MXXXIV.
[87] De Ant. Brit. Eccl., ed. Drake., p. 81.
[88] C.D., vol. I., Int. p. cvii.
[89] Lib. IV., ch. 15.
[90] Looking at this again, a fresh and interesting association arises.
This must have been at or close to “_Red_bridge,” at the head of the
Southampton estuary. Beda is telling the story of the two young pagan
Jutish princes, from the Isle of Wight, being baptised, preparatory to
their martyrdom, by Cyniberet abbot of Hreutford. Close to Redbridge
is Nutshalling, the monastery to which the young Winfred, afterwards
St. Bonifatius, passed from Exeter to the care of the abbot “Wynbert.”
There can be no doubt that Beda’s monastery of Hrentford is identical
with the Nutschalling of the biographers of Winfred; and that Beda’s
“Cyniberet” is the same as their “Wynbert.”
If this identification, both of a place and a person, that have both
been known by different names for above a thousand years, should be
justified; it will be all the more remarkable, because Beda’s text has
been in English keeping; whilst that of the biographers of Bonifatius
has been chiefly in foreign literary custody.
[91] Cod. Dip., No. CXXXII.
[92] M.H.B., Pref. 77.
[93] Two Chron., Introd., lii.
[94] P. 28.
[95] Kent has 15 extant St. Martins, Lincoln 14, Norfolk 14, Suffolk 7,
Essex 4, Middlesex 8.
[96] P. 45.
[97] Cod. Dip., No. MCCLXXXIX.
[98] These were both in that suburb, still called “Ladymead.” But it
would be one of the rash things, that are so often committed in these
matters, to connect this name with the two Lady dedications. In fact
there is a tolerable alternative. It may have been a mead that belonged
to one “Godric Ladda,” a witness to an Anglo-Saxon manumission of a
Bondsman, in Bath Abbey. (Hickes, Dissert., 8 Epist., p. 22).
[99] P. 124-5.
[100] Mon. Hist. Brit., p. 664.
[101] A.-S. K., I., 229-30.
[102] Flores Hist., 1601. p. 143.
[103] Eng. Com., Proofs, cclxxix.
[104] Ch. H., 1655, II., VIII., 21.
[105] The contemporary authoress of the life of St. Willibald, says
that (about A.D. 703), it was the custom among the Saxons--_i.e._
Willibald’s compatriots in Wessex--for some noble or substantial men,
not to erect a church upon their estates, but to hold in honour a lofty
Holy Cross. This seems a strong confirmation of a recent suggestion
of Prof. Earle, that the English word “Church” is a transliteration,
and scarcely that, of the word “crux.” It seems to be a more likely
word for the churches of Augustine and Birinus, than the usual one
more distantly derived. Leland in one place has “curx” for “crux.” In
planting these crosses, these old Lords of Manors were sowing the seeds
of what are to us parishes.
ALSO ALREADY PUBLISHED.
A PRIMÆVAL BRITISH METROPOLIS. With Notes on the Ancient Topography of
the South-Western Peninsula of Britain. 1877.
_Bristol: Thomas Kerslake & Co._ (1_s._, _postage_ 2_d._)
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Talnas, of the Welsh “Bruts.” Æt Peonnum, A.D. 658 and 1016.
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Somerset. Vespasian’s Incursion, A.D. 47. Alauna Sylva. Dolbury
and Exeter. Sceorstan, A.D. 1016, &c.
THE CELT AND THE TEUTON IN EXETER. _With Plan._ A.D. 927.
_Printed in the Archæological Journal (Institute)_, _Vol._ xxx.
1874.
SAINT EWEN. BRISTOL AND THE WELSH BORDER. Circiter A.D. 577-926. 1875.
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THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF DAMNONIA. In Remains of the Celtic Hagiology.
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WHAT IS A TOWN?
_Printed in the Archæological Journal (Institute)_, _Vol._
xxxiv. 1877.
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