This evening I made an expedition to ‘Hellesden Ley,’ the field in the parish of Bradfield St. George that has been identified by some scholars as a possible location for Haeglisdun, the place mentioned in the account of the martyrdom of St. Edmund as narrated to St. Dunstan. Here there was a villa regia (apparently with a church or chapel) where Edmund, having decided not to fight to the death at Thetford and risk the lives of more East Anglians, retired to wait for the Danes. They dragged him into the nearby wood when they arrived and shot him with arrows. The name ‘Hellesden’ was noticed on a tithe map of 1841 and is now part of Bishop’s Farm on the parish boundary between Bradfield St. Clare and Bradfield St. George; there is a piece of young woodland nearby in which I took the photograph.
In my own view this is the most plausible location for the martyrdom, although I may be biased owing to its proximity to Bury…
3 Comments
August 21, 2007 at 9:58 pm
There is also a Hellesdon just west of Norwich; an asylum exists there..
September 7, 2007 at 8:34 am
This location certainly sounds like the most likely candidate for the martydom site.
There is also evidence in nearby names of streets and places that would seem to suggest royal connections, and connections with the Abbey – I can’t remember the exact details offhand, but “King’s” and “Sutton Halle” are involved.
September 8, 2007 at 8:18 am
Absolutely! And the proximity to Bury should not be underestimated as well – the idea that a body could have been moved in secret all the way from Hoxne to Bury, or all the way from Norwich under the noses of a harrying and occupying Danish army, seems implausible.