I think, some three decades ago, Dr Simon Cotton drew attention to a most intriguing coincidence ... if coincidence it is ... in Cambridgeshire. I leave his questions as he posed them himself.
"The factors which led to the choice of a patron saint for a church were varied. Can any be traced to an early evangelisation? One of the most unusual is that of St Remigius at Water Newton, one of only seven [English] dedications to that saint (five are in Norfolk, and one at Long Clawson in Leicestershire). The location suggests a link with Remigius, first Bishop of Lincoln, but he was never canonised, and it must presumably refer to Remi (Remigius), the Bishop of Reims who in 496 baptised the pagan Clovis, King of the Franks.
"In 1975, the Roman settlement at Water Newton (Durobrivae) yielded a hoard of late Roman Christian silver, probably of the fourth century, which indicates that there was a Christian community here even before that. Did a sub-Roman Christian community persist here? Was Remigius an import of the Saxon period, or could he have been the patron saint given to an existing church by eleventh- or twelfth-centuryy Normans?"
Durobrivae is a spot in Cambridgeshire where the Ermine Way interacts with no fewer than five other Roman roads.
1 comment:
I recall reading that oft times a chapel was the gift of a late or post Roman gentleman or some local notable like military commander. The name persists, but the identity of the patron becomes forgotten. A late Roman patron Remigius founding a chapel for his workers is plausible. A related example is after St Augustine's mission certain Romano-British martyrs like SS Julius and Aaron were encountered, but any memory or record of vita was mostly lost ( in that violent post Roman world, resulting in that saint being given a vita where the imperfect but probably authentic account of Gildas was united to a parable of saintly conduct. I find the most shadowy but plausible historical accounts the most fascinating.
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