St Modwen
 |
Hollar engraving of St Modwen's church from the south west, 1661 |
The conversion of Mercia -- in which Burton was situated -- to Christianity began in the mid-7th century. Modwen, an Irish abbess, is believed to have come to Burton at the end of that century, to live in a monastic cell on Andressey, an island in the Trent.
Conchubranus, an 11th-century Irish monk and the earliest biographer of St Modwen, wrote:
... When they reached the river called Trent which flows past Mount Calvus, which is in English called Scalpcliffe, they built here a church consecrated to God and St Andrew, which place is called Andressey because it is a small island. In it St Modwen and Lazar and Althea dwelt seven years. And after they returned from Rome, they built a church on the other side of the water in honour of St Peter and St Paul; and God through them wrought many miracles near the aforesaid river ...
Modwen died in Scotland, but after first being buried on Andressey, her bones were eventually placed in a specially built shrine in the abbey church. A chapel on the island, called St Andrew's chapel, contained a statue of her, as well as a red cow and a staff on which women in labour leaned. The statue was removed (and lost) in 1538 during the Dissolution, and her shrine was destroyed.
 |
St Modwen's church in 1998 |
Back to history
