Lady St Mary Church, Wareham

The shrine of a murdered royal saint was only briefly at Wareham’s parish church, but long enough to place it on a trail of sites connected to St. Edward’s veneration

Highlights

• Possible former shrine of St. Edward King and Martyr

St. Edward King and Martyr might have been buried here for a short time, following his murder at Corfe in 978. For about a year, his body lay in a humble Saxon church in Wareham, having been buried without honours.

The original church in which he was buried has vanished without trace. The current building has a few fragments of Anglo-Saxon stonework, including a carving of the Crucifixion, but nothing from the saint’s original shrine. There is, however, an ancient chapel dedicated to St. Edward, on the right-hand side of the high altar. This was built in the 13th century and is clearly older than the rest of the church, since it has a lower floor level. Some accounts say this is on the site of his former shrine, but there is no archaeological evidence for this.

Although St. Edward was hastily buried in Wareham, he was not forgotten for long. His coffin was opened in 980 and the body found to be incorrupt, its state of preservation a sign of sainthood. He was moved to Shaftesbury Abbey and reburied with much greater ceremony. Within 20 years, he was revered as one of England’s royal saints. Our best account of St. Edward’s murder and burial at Wareham comes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

It is possible that St. Aldhelm (d. 709) founded the original church here. His building was probably made of wood, which is why it no longer survives. However, an even older stone carving, said to be from the time of a rudimentary Celtic church, is on display in the nave. It could have been brought to Wareham later, of course, once St. Aldhelm’s church was up and running.

Near Wareham

Those particularly keen to venerate the memory of St. Edward – and it should be remembered there is a British monastic community dedicated to his relics – might want to travel on to Corfe Castle, which is 4 miles to the southeast.

A late 11th-century hagiography, the Passio S Eadwardi, recounts that the king’s body was originally thrown into a marsh near Corfe, at a time before its famous castle existed, and only rediscovered a year later through miracles. There is a marsh just south of the town, on Corfe Common. I hazard an educated guess that this is the marsh in question. The common is open to all, managed by the National Trust.

There was a medieval holy well, St. Edward’s Fountain, in the vicinity of Corfe Castle, but my repeated efforts to track it down have come to nothing. Some have identified it with a pit that can be seen inside Corfe Castle ruins, while others claim the well is in a nearby hamlet called Norden. None of the National Trust guides at the castle could help me, despite many years’ experience of local history.

Directions

The Parish Church of Lady St. Mary, Church Green, Wareham BH20 4ND

www.warehamchurches.org.uk

W3W: rant.steam.acquaint

GPS: 50.6843N 2.1080W

Wareham railway station 1km

Lady St. Mary Church is on the south side of Wareham, on Church Street, near the River Frome. It is usually open to visitors. Corfe Common lies to the south of Corfe Castle town. The marshy area is at GPS: 50.6290N 2.0573W. This is about 200m due west of Townsend Mead, a short lane at the very southern limit of Corfe Castle, although there is no parking on the lane itself.