Saints with connections to Herefordshire

Beuno: According to a 14th century "Life", Beuno was born in Powys c. 560 but was brought up in Gwent. The King of Gwent was so impressed by his piety that he gave him some land in Ewyas in Herefordshire. Beuno then built a monastery in the county at what is now known as Llanveynoe. He died and was buried in Caernarvonshire and miracles were reported at his shrine. The church was later re-dedicated to St. Peter but Beuno has been reinstated as a joint patron.

Clydog/Clydawg: Clydawg was a prince of Ewyas in the 5th/6th centuries and was the son or grandson of King Brychan of Brycheiniog (Brecknock), who was the father of many other saints. Whilst out hunting Clydawg was murdered by a rival who was jealous of his relationship with a nobleman's daughter. On the day of his funeral his body was to be carried on a cart pulled by two oxen, but when they reached the river Monnow they refused to cross and the yoke between them broke. The prince's body was laid on the bank and a spring is said to have issued forth at the spot. Clydawg was made a martyr and a church was built over his grave by the river.

Cynidir: Although Cynidir no longer has a church dedicated to him in Herefordshire, Kenderchurch preserves his name (the church here is now dedicated to St. Mary). Cynidir, like Clydawg, was the son or grandson of the King of Brycheiniog and founded several churches in Breconshire, including Glasbury where he was buried. Cynidir established a hermitage on an island in the river Wye near Winforton (only nine miles downriver from Glasbury). In 1675, Blount wrote that "Walter, a Canon of Wormsley Priory, betook himself to an Eremitical Life in a little island on upon the river Wey ... wherein he built a Chappel dedicated deo beatae Mariae, beato Kenedro - a Saxon saint as I suppose and afterwards it usually bore the name of St Kendred's Chapel."

In 1264 the hermitage was granted to Wormesley Priory. The buildings had disappeared by 1675 and only a 10ft high artificial mound remained (the course of the river Wye had also changed, now running ¾ of a mile to the south). In 1991, members of the Archaeological Section of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club visited the site to carry out an excavation of two trenches. The first trench revealed the possible remains of a round tower but lack of time prevented the second trench from being fully excavated.

Deinst: It is possible that Deinst or Deiniol founded the monastery at Bangor Iscoed. He was consecrated bishop by Dubricius. Tradition recalls that he founded the church at Llangarron in Herefordshire, and indeed this is the only church in England dedicated to him.

Dyfrig/Dubricius: Probably the greatest of the Herefordshire saints. In the 6th century he evangelised the kingdom of Ergyng (Archenfield), the name of which is continued in the Deanery of Ross and Archenfield. It is said that Dubricius was born at Madley in this county. The story is that King Peipiau of Ergyng (the Leper) noticed that his daughter Ebrdil was pregnant, and in anger (some say because the baby was his) he ordered her to be thrown into the river Wye. However, each time she was thrown in she was washed back to the shore and so the king ordered her to be burnt alive on a pyre. This time the pyre would not catch light. The next day Ebrdil gave birth to a son who she called Dyfrig  - "water baby". King Peipiau, taken by remorse, picked up the child and when the baby touched him he was miraculously cured of his leprosy.

Dubricius later went on to found many churches, monasteries and schools, chief among them being Hentland - whose name comes from the Old English words of hen, meaning "old", andllan, meaning "church" - and Moccas. He is also said to have founded a religious institution at Llanfrother, whose name means "church of the brothers". Dubricius and his disciples were very active in the spreading of Christianity throughout Archenfield and Gwent. He is also said to have been the first bishop of Llandaff.

Ethelbert: Ethelbert was King of the East Angles, and he wished to marry Aelfthryth, daughter of Offa, King of Mercia. In 794 Offa arranged for Ethelbert to visit him at his palace at Sutton (possibly the Iron Age fort of Sutton Walls). It is at this point that the story divides into two different versions. Version one states that Offa was at first in favour of the marriage, hoping that it would enable him to extend his kingdom, but when he realised that it was Ethelbert who would gain the most he decided to call the wedding off and execute Ethelbert. The other version of the story is that Offa invited Ethelbert to Sutton to marry his daughter but Offa's wife was jealous and persuaded Offa to kill Ethelbert.

Ethelbert was buried at Marden where a spring burst forth (it can still be seen at the west end of the church). Later, under much pressure from the people, Offa had the body moved to Hereford Cathedral, which was jointly dedicated to Ethelbert and the Virgin Mary. Ethelbert's tomb became a place of pilgrimage and many miracles are said to have happened there.

Today there is a well to the east of the Cathedral in Quay Street, leading up to Castle Green, that is dedicated to St. Ethelbert and features a 14th century carving of his head that was rescued from the West Front of the cathedral when it collapsed in 1786. There is some argument as to the original location of the spring, but the most detailed investigation has been undertaken by David Whitehead (see Herefordshire Archaeological News, No. 35, 1978). It is said that the water from St. Ethelbert's spring was particularly good at healing eye infections.

Keyne/Cein: Keyne was a daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog (see also Clydawg and Cynidir). She migrated to Cornwall but in Herefordshire she is said to have been the founder or patron of the church at what is now Kentchurch, though the dedication was later changed to St. Mary (possibly in the 13th/14th century when the cult of St. Mary was at its most popular). In the early days the parish was known as Llancein ("Cein's Church") or St. Keyneschurch (recorded as such in a Bishop's Register of 1302). There is a story that in the early 19th century a squire insisted on the insertion of the letter "T" into the parish name as his post was frequently misdirected to Kenchester, but there is no evidence for this. (See D.M. Annett, Saints in Herefordshire - A Study of Dedications, Logaston Press, 1999.)

[Original author: Miranda Greene, 2005]