Church of St Peter and St Paul, King’s Sutton

St Rumwold began his mission at birth and died three days later, having preached a sermon on the Trinity, an unlikely prodigy now remembered by the St Rumbold’s Way

Highlights

• Birthplace of St Rumwold

St Rumwold’s life story stretches credibility, but in times gone by it strengthened faith. He was born and died in 662, living for just three days. During this symbolic timeframe he pronounced himself a Christian, requested baptism, and then preached a sermon on the Trinity.

He spent his days at King’s Sutton. The font in which he was possibly baptised is on your left as you enter the parish church in the village. Not that it needs directions: it is an enormous bowl, with a deep, lead-lined chamber. According to his 11th-century Life there was a hollow boulder lying in the village which the saint specifically requested as his baptismal vessel.

The font is certainly ancient, perhaps Saxon, and was found buried in the churchyard in the1920s. It looks different to earlier drawings of the church’s medieval font however, which was removed during a Victorian restoration. The church itself dates from the 12th century.

St Rumwold also foretold his own death and asked to be buried at King’s Sutton for a year, then Brackley for a year, and then permanently at Buckingham. He became a hugely popular figure in early medieval Europe, commemorated in monasteries across southern England and even as far afield as Sweden.

The Life of St Rumwold says his parents were a king and queen from Northumbria, but does not give their names. It says they came south before the birth to be near her father, the pagan King Penda of Mercia. The most likely candidates would therefore be King Alfrid and St Kyneburga, a daughter of King Penda who later set up a monastery at Castor in Cambridgeshire. The Life claims King Penda was a Christian and the boy’s father a pagan, but the opposite was true in both cases.

A holy well lies a short distance to the west of King’s Sutton, in the village of Astrop which merges into King’s Sutton. In 1866 access to the original holy well was closed and the source piped to a replacement wellhouse beside the road. The original holy well is still inaccessible, and the replacement wellhouse has been dry since the 1960s. The church celebrates the saint’s festival on 3 November.

Directions

St Peter & St Paul Church, The Square, King’s Sutton OX17 3RJ

www.kingssutton.org

W3W: gave.peach.party

GPS: 52.0211N 1.2764W church

W3W: pint.remarks.alternate

GPS: 52.0223N1.2639W well (dry)

King’s Sutton railway station 350m

The church is on the west side of the village, on a small village green opposite the White Horse pub. It is usually open. The now defunct holy well is on the road heading towards Charlton. From the church head east along Astrop Road. Go straight on at the junction with Upper Astrop Road, where the road sign starts with ‘Newbottle 1’, and the well is on the left 220m after this junction, setback in a long section of wooden fencing.