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.
A marriage of faith, farming, landscape and language, placenames remind us of the personal, poetic origins of a location. This is true for Llangua.
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‘Llan’ is an enclosure usually associated with a church. The element which follows, most commonly a personal name, is mutated. Llangua is the church of St Cywa (English: Kew, Ciwa).
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Although there is no obvious physical evidence for a church being here before the 12th century, the survival of that placename is our first clue in understanding the development of the religious foundation on this site.
The sanctuary of St Philip’s, Caerdeon is a bejewelled Byzantine-esque treat.
In this thread, we will explore the history and details of this beautiful ensemble.
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Casting a kaleidoscope of jewel-toned light across the sanctuary, the east window was produced by the Kempe studio, one of Victorian Britain’s preeminent stained glass firms.
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Intriguingly, this stunning window takes the form of a continental church altarpiece: a crucifixion scene situated within a classical frame, adorned with sumptuous baroque details such as fluted golden Corinthians, foliate swags, and flaming urns.
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.
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.
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.