Wanted: safe home for the oldest bones of an English saint
Designers called on for system to preserve the seventh-century remains of Saxon St Eanswythe
THE Church of England is seeking a new home for bones thought to be the “earliest verified remains” of any English saint.
Eanswythe is the patron saint of Folkestone in Kent and a granddaughter of Ethelbert, the first of England’s Saxon kings to convert to Christianity.
The remains were discovered in a lead container in 1885 at the Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe in Folkestone but it was not until 2020 that local archaeologists and historians from Queen’s University Belfast, confirmed they were almost certainly the saint’s.
Now the container housing her bones is deemed no longer suitable for the task and the Diocese of Canterbury has called for applications from designers and artists willing to create a new reliquary for the seventh-century remains.
Dr Andrew Richardson, of Isle Heritage, explained: “Eanswythe will always belong in Folkestone – and she will always be a part of this church, but she needs a new ‘home’ within that home.
“The lead container in which her relics were found is an important artefact in its own right, but it is now very fragile and no longer suitable to house her remains,” said Dr Andrew Richardson.
“So, we’re looking to commission the creation of a new reliquary fit for a Kentish royal saint, one that will protect and preserve these relics for generations to come.”
St Eanswythe is believed to have founded one of the earliest monastic communities in England, most probably around AD 660 on the Bayle, the historic centre of Folkestone.
She is thought to have died in her late teens or early 20s.
Her life spans a period that saw the very beginning of Christianity in Saxon England.
Speaking when the remains were verified in 2020, Dr Richardson, then with the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, said: “I suspect that her death at such a young age – 17 to 20, 22 at the most – perhaps just after becoming the founding abbess of one of England’s first monastic institutions to include women.
“The fact that she was of the Kentish royal house, beloved by the Church as the first to convert to Christianity, would have easily been enough to get her acclaimed as a saint, perhaps within only a few years of her death,” he said.
Her remains could have been destroyed like many other relics during the Reformation had they not been hidden away in the north wall of the church. They are now, however, under threat again and the reliquary needs a new containment system, set within the shrine’s existing alcove, that can ensures the security and long-term stability of the relics.
Contemporary designs are encouraged, as are those which draw upon the artistic traditions of seventh-century Kent and the deadline for expressions of interest is March 1.
The design brief and application form can be requested from Dr Richardson through the Isle Heritage website.
Ethelbert was King of Kent from about 589 until his death in February 616 AD.
In the late ninth-century Anglosaxon Chronicle, he is referred to as a bretwalda, or “Britain-ruler” and was the first English king to reject paganism for Christianity.