St Frideswide and Oxford

The patron saint of Oxford and the university is Saint Frideswide (c. 680 -727), meaning ‘peace’ and ‘strong’. Her ancestry is not clear. The earliest written account of her life is provided by William…

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Mercia (part 2) – St Modwen

Burton-upon-Trent has two churches dedicated to Saint Modwen, its patron saint. There is not much known about Modwen. She was apparently an Irish noblewoman who, on her pilgrimage to Rome,…

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Mercia (part 1) – St Werburgh

To avoid locked doors of smaller churches along my journey and to meet the people involved in creating the community around the saints, keeping these amazing buildings alive, I put much effort into planning: calling or…

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Journey north (part 2)

Whitby Abbey is a special place. The abbey dominates the landscape from its exposed location on top of the cliffs. The ruins of the Benedictine monastery visible today were originally…

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Journey north (part 1)

I set off on a rather rainy morning but managed to outrun the bad weather on my journey north. The day turned out to be pleasantly warm with sunshine and rainbows. For my second and…

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