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Friendless Churches Profile picture
@friendschurches
Nov 20, 2021 • 8 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
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In 2009, we found St Edmund’s head all over again. This time, it was under hundreds of years of paint and plaster - not in a woods guarded by a wolf…

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Edmund was an Anglo-Saxon Christian king who ruled East Anglia in the 9th century. He was killed in battle by Danish invaders. Legend has it Edmund was captured alive; whipped and lashed while tied to a tree, then shot with arrows and decapitated.

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His head was cast away in the forest. A grey wolf guarded it. Some of Edmund's supporters found the head of the king, which miraculously reunited with his body, and was then buried in a small chapel...

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During repairs in 2009 at St Mary’s, Mundon in Essex an island of plaster detached from the north wall of the nave, revealing the crowned king. He is in three-quarter profile; outlined in red; his hair painted red; his eyes black. Danes shoot arrows at him.

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Behind the saint are vestiges of a bow, hand and arrow: the bow outlined in black; the arrow and hand in red. Facing him are the remains of two hooded figures in profile, the nearest is shooting another arrow.

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The remains are fragmentary and faint, but the wall-paintings conservators and experts from Courtauld Institute of Art are confident this scene depicts the martyrdom of St Edmund, and that it was painting in the 1300s.

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In the 1970s, St Mary's, Mundon was to be demolished - if it didn't collapse first. If it had, we would never have known that St Edmund's martyrdom played out on the walls. There is still so much to discover and learn about our churches. 

#StEdmundsDay

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Bonus tweet:

Here are some other, more substantial, medieval St Edmunds in churches -
1. Bishopsbourne, Kent
2. Belchamp Walter, Essex
3. Stoke Dry, Rutland ImageImageImage

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More from @friendschurches

Friendless Churches Profile picture
Jul 28
With a 15th-century rood loft hovering over rows of 18th-century box pews, the interior of St David’s, Llangeview in Monmouthshire offers a glimpse into the forms of worship from two bygone ages.

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Spanning the entire width of the nave, the rood loft is a relic from the late medieval past. Before the Reformation, the rood loft would have carried the rood, a carving of Christ on the cross.

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Alongside Christ, there would have been carved depictions of the Virgin Mary and John the Apostle. Sadly, none of the medieval roods survived the Reformation.

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Read 8 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
Jul 23
Caught Moss-Handed: how the rare mosses on the roof of St James’s, Llangua enabled the conviction of two criminals in the 1950s.

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In the summer of 1951, a farmer spotted two men climbing on the roof of Llangua church at dusk. Unfortunately, by the time the police arrived, the men had fled the scene.

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After committing further criminals acts in the local area — namely the theft of tools and car batteries — the authorities caught the men, who turned out to be two brothers that had come to Monmouthshire from Cardiff.

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Read 8 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
Jul 9
Across the centuries, the saintly dedication of a parish church can change — and at Manordeifi in Pembrokeshire, it is thought that the church's dedication has shifted several times throughout its long history.

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A Christian place of worship at Manordeifi is believed to have stood on the site of the present church since the 7th century. The earliest church here was reportedly dedicated to St Llawddog.

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A son of the Prince of Usk and a renowned as a miracle-worker, Llawddog became the focus of a popular local saintly cult. As such, there are thought to be four other churches in the region that were also originally dedicated to him.

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Read 8 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
Apr 19
Why is the English name for the festival of Christ’s resurrection so different from its name in almost every other language?

1/9
 📷 East window of St Cadoc's, Llangattock-Vibon-Avel by Lavers & Barraud (1875). Image
In English, this most important Christian festival is known as Easter, whereas in most other languages, its name is markedly different: Pâques in French, Pasg in Welsh, and Páscoa in Portuguese.

2/9
 📷 East window of St Beuno's, Penmorfa, Gwynedd by an unknown maker (c.1851) Image
This divergence between English and most other European languages is a hotly debated historical topic, relating to the transition from paganism to Christianity in England during the 6th and 7th centuries.

3/9
 📷 East window of All Saints', Ballidon by C.E. Kempe Image
Read 9 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
Dec 18, 2024
Caring for over 60 places of worship in England and Wales means that from a few of our churchyards you can see some varied sights.
From 20th century infrastructure to cultural landmarks, the fabric and fate of our churches has been shaped by their localities.

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 📷 Sutterby Image
On the Welsh border, in the remote fields of Herefordshire stands St Peter's, Llancillo. Adjacent to the church is an 8 meter high earthen Motte, which is all the remains of Llancillo Castle. This fortification was originally constructed in the 1090s by Richard Esketot.

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Releasing plumes of steam into the sky, the cooling towers of the Drax Power Station are visible, across the flat Yorkshire’s Ouse Valley, from St Helen's, Barmby on the Marsh. While St Helen’s tower was built in the 1770s, the cooling towers were constructed in the 1970s.

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Read 6 tweets
Friendless Churches Profile picture
Oct 24, 2023
Red and yellow and pink and green ... most children can tell you that rainbows contain seven colours, and many of us use 'ROYGBIV' to remember them. But people haven't always seen rainbows this way. Photograph of St Mary's, Tal-y-Llyn, Anglesey by Wynne Jones, with a rainbow in a grey stormy sky. The simple church is lit up with yellow light.
Rubens' 'The Rainbow Landscape' of 1636 was painted just three decades before major new scientific theories about colour and light emerged. The rainbow lights up surrounding clouds with highlights of lemony yellow and blue.

© The Wallace Collection Painting by Rubens: The Rainbow Landscape. A rainbow forms an arc across most of this landscape painting. Below it is a idealised rural harvest scene, with agricultural workers (men and women), cows, and carts with horses at the edge of a stream. From the Wallace Collection (licensed under Creative Commons).
In 1664, Robert Boyle conducted experiments with prisms, and in the 'artificial rain-bow' he produced, he observed five colours: Red, Yellow, Green, Blew and Purple. ... The frontispiece of Boyle's book, 'Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours'
Read 9 tweets

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