Greensted and the Course of St Edmund's Translation

Extracts from the Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society (now the Essex Society for Archaeology and History).

From ‘Transactions New Series, Volume 10 Part 2’ (1907)

A new series begins with St Edmund, whose body was moved from London to Suffolk in 1013.  His Feast Day is commemorated on 20 November.

GREENSTEAD AND THE COURSE OF ST. EDMUND'S TRANSLATION.

BY I. Chalkley Gould, F.S.A.

Delivered (in part) 6^th October, 1906.

This seems a suitable occasion on which to say something as to the course taken by those who conveyed the remains of St. Edmund back to Beodricsworth (now Bury St. Edmonds) in A.D. 1013 and may be, to controvert the idea that this church was erected as a temporary resting place.

The story of the translations of the remains is full of charm but would occupy too much time to tell. The death, or martyrdom, of Edmund at the hands of pagan Danes took place in A.D. 870.[1]  Thirty-three years later the body, said to be incorruptible, was translated from Hoxne -Wood near Eye in Suffolk, where he was slain, to Beodricsworth where it remained for over one hundred years.

It is stated that miracles and wondrous healings took place and the shrine drew crowds of pilgrims whose offerings enriched the monastery at Beodricsworth, henceforward known as St. Edmund's Bury, or Bury St. Edmunds. But in A.D. 1010 the Danes, under Turchil, pillaged Suffolk and the monks of Bury fled in panic, then a faithful monk named Ailwin literally carted the saint’s remains by devious and obscure tracks to London - helped by sundry miracles on the way. There Ailwin deposited his charge in the church of St. Gregory by St. Paul, afraid to take it into the cathedral lest the bishop should permanently retain it. As at Bury, so in London, the relics proved a source of wealth, pilgrims crowding to touch the shrine.  Peace of a sort was made with the Danes and in 1013 the monks of Bury, after much contest with Aelfhun, Bishop of London, possessed themselves of the remains, and commenced that return to Bury which is of special interest to us. Very different from the secret, silent journey, accomplished by Ailwin in A.D 1010, was this third translation, for this was a triumphant progress along the King's-highway, welcomed at every halting place by the population, and staying long enough to receive many offerings, or as a devout Catholic has it, "to satisfy the devotion of the faithful.”[2]

By which exit from London Ailwin led the procession is unknown, nor are we certain of the way followed when Essex was reached. St. Edmund's latest chronicler says that Ailwin "chose as his route the ancient way that runs from London to Chipping Ongar, Chelmsford, Braintree and Clare" but this is an itinerary which can hardly be supported throughout by knowledge of the localities or by tradition. Mr. Robert H. Browne of Stapleford thinks that the "return journey was by Hainault Forest, to Havering probably, and so to the manor house of the Lords of Stapleford "crossing the river Roding at Passingford.”[3]

In ‘The Essex Review’[4] some years since I expressed the view that the course followed was likely to have been along an old road by Chigwell, crossing the river at Abridge, but the matter is involved in obscurity and I would fain believe with Mr. Browne that the saint's remains were carried to Stapleford, higher up the valley, for then we need not look on the old tale recited by Dugdale in the ‘Monasticon Anglicanum’ (1655-73) as one of those such as Speed refers to when he says “the monkes of those times made no great dainty daily to forge matter for their owne advantage."

Newcourt in his ‘Repertorium’[5] gives the story thus:-

“It is call'd Stapleford-Abbots for that it belong'd to the famous Abby of S. Edmundsbury, and was given by the Lord of it, to S. Edmund; because being sick, he recover'd upon Harbouring the Corps of S. Edmund, as it return'd from London to S. Edmundsbury."

Whether Ailwin and his followers crossed the Roding at Abridge by Lambourne, or at Passingford by Stapleford, it is not unlikely that ere they reached the ford they wended their way by the track, or horse road, still traceable, though fallen far from its former estate, which ran from Chigwell towards Lambourne and Stapleford along the ridge above the valley.

There can be little doubt as to the course followed from the neighbourhood of Passingford to Greenstead. Part of the great highway which now runs to Ongar probably did not exist and we may assume that Ailwin took the road by Stanford Rivers church, and so to this spot. This road, like many an ancient highway, has dwindled down to bridle-way, cart-track or footpath, but it is easily traced by those who know these Essex fields. From Greenstead the ancient way may be traced northward, and I have little doubt that the saint's remains were carried hence to the old "Suffolk Way" through the Roothings to Dunmow, where our member, Mr. Hastings Worrin, finds "St. Edmund's Way (in 1698, in an estate book), and thence by Lindsell, Great Bardfield, Finchingfield and Clare to Bury.[6]

So we see that Greenstead, probably with the Saxon thane's hall and the huts of the tillers of the soil, stood, not as some have written in an obscure position, but alongside the king's highway, and I see no reason to suppose that the parish was churchless and must assume that this building or another on its site stood ready to hand when the relics of St. Edmund rested some days on their homeward journey.[7] Against the commonly accepted idea that this church was hastily erected to receive the saint's remains, must also be noted that well seasoned, firmly fixed timber was used. Had oak been freshly cut the trunks would show far more evidence of shrinking apart.

Whether erected before A.D. 1013, on the occasion of the resting of St. Edmund's remains in that year, or subsequently, may the timber walls of this little edifice stand a lasting memorial of East Anglia's king, martyr and saint!

NOTES.

It is almost certain that in early days, before the Roding was confined to its present narrow channel, the whole valley was under water or in a morass-like condition with few fords, and we must consequently regard the present high road from Abridge to Passingford as a comparatively modern creation. The one ancient manor settlement on this low-lying road (known as Arnold's) is on a spit of land slightly higher than the old-time ford level, and the remnant of a chaseway shows that it was approached not from Abridge or Passingford but from the high land on the south. Bearing in mind the condition of the valley we look for a dryer track way, and we find it running from near Chigwell church, by Lambourne church and hall to Stapleford Abbots church, possibly extending past Navestock church and hall and Kelvedon Hatch church and hall and so further north. This ancient way has been in part absolutely destroyed or absorbed in later roads but for much of its length can be traced in bridle ways and footpaths.

With regard to the high road on the other side of the river, north of Passingford, leading to Chipping Ongar, it would seem that the northern part is also of comparatively modern date for not a church or ancient village is upon it and its northern end would in early Norman days have gone plump against the walls of Eustace of Boulogne's stronghold, an arrangement which would hardly have suited that feudal lord.

The line of the ancient road in this direction seems to me to have been past Suttons, along the course followed by the present high road for about a mile, then turning left by Murrell's farm and the site of the reputed manor house of Gelhowes, or Bellhouse, to Stanford Rivers church and hall, and thence to Greenstead church and hall. Old-time villages were mostly grouped round hall and church, and the position of the noticeable series of churches and halls I have mentioned leads me to conclude that the links connecting the settlements were the ancient trackways, high above the flooded valley of the Roding.

Though Ongar became of importance when Eustace of Boulogne established a stronghold there in the days of the Conquest, its development dates from the twelfth century, when Richard de Luci held the castle under Henry II. De Luci, who resided much at the castle when his arduous duties permitted, encouraged the little settlement which occupied his outer bailey and procured it the right of a market. Possibly Ongar's present direct road southward may date from De Luci's lordship, but I doubt if it is as early and imagine that even so late as his time the principal track to Ongar branched from the highway at Greenstead.

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[1] The scene is pictured in modern glass in the window of the north side of the chancel.

[2][2] See Saint Edmund, by the Rev. J B Mackinlay, O.B.E., 1893, for a full account of the saint’s life and the fate of his remains, told from a Roman Catholic point of view with faith and sympathy.

[3] The Essex Review, xii, 47, 1905.

[4] Vol xi, 234, 1902.

[5] Vol. ii, 554, 1710.

[6][6] Mr Worrin mentions a spring at Lindsell called Dedman’s Bush.  The change of name from St Edmund to Tedmund and finally Dedman is evidenced elsewhere. See Essex Review, xi, 234, 1902.

[7] All we learn from the old register of Bury is that “He [St Edmund] was als