The Saint Walstan Trail

I found this intriguing brass plaque on the side of an old forge building in Bowthorpe when I went to photograph the community garden there. Like Pablo Fanque before him, I had seen his name in various places but I hadn't really registered it. This stern, bald figure commanded attention though. As a general rule I think its worth paying close attention to anyone who is wielding a huge scythe.

Nearby there is another plaque with a short biography of St. Walstan. I was interested to note that he was related to King Edmund. It goes on to describe how he forsook his privilege to devote his life to Christ and how, through his prayer, he performed miracles to heal farm animals around Taverham.

Photo: lwr

There are some more details on Wikipedia describing how St. Walstan's miracles led to him becoming the patron saint of agricultural workers. This would have made him a pretty big deal in East Anglia in the 10th century. The page includes another portrait of St. Walstan as he appears on a mediaeval rood screen at St Mary Magdalene, Norwich, incidentally the church where my daughter went to playgroup. A new housing development called St. Walstan's has sprung up immediately opposite us since we moved. It really was about time I took some notice of him.

By Amitchell125 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

The plaque says that he took his vows of poverty and celibacy at 12 and so the screen depicts St. Walstan as a slight, cherubic and tousle-haired boy.

There is some dispute whether he was born in Bawburgh in Norfolk or Suffolk's Blythburgh. All i'll say is that it is a shorter walk from Bawburgh to Taverham. It is agreed however that Walstan was buried in Bawburgh. Having forseen his death, he asked to be set on a cart in Taverham and pulled by two oxen. He requested to be buried at the point where they stopped. The village sign is a carving of St. Walstan tending to some lambs with the church in the background. He has grown a beard, straightened his hair and spent some time at the gym by this point but hadn't yet adopted the enormous scythe.

Further up the hill from the village sign is the church of St. Mary and St. Walstan. It is quite a small church and the red tiled cone roofed tower is unusual.

A flaming beacon carved from wood stands out from the pinnacle of the tower.

The church sits on what is, by East Anglian standards, quite a steep hill. It looked like there may well have been some subsidence down the hill at some point and the building has been buttressed to prevent further movement. It is a good illustration of why oxen aren't usually trusted to choose building sites.

The church was locked but in the vestibule a sign indicated that it was possible to visit St.Walstan's Well by following a private track. Legend has it that natural springs emerged at various points along the trail that the oxen followed and that St. Walstan's well is the last of these.

The scene was idyllic as I followed the track with some trees in blossom even though it was December. I could still hear the roar of the A47 in the background despite Norfolk being in it's second lockdown of 2020. The well lives in a well tended garden and is housed by what looks to be quite a modern brick building.

I like to include a tune with each blog entry that goes with the subject in some way. The ethereal 'To Heal' by Underworld seems appropriate for St. Walstan.