AD
| 975 | Birth of Walstan at Bawburgh, Norfolk . |
| 988 | Walstan leaves home and and finds work as a farmworker at Taverham, Norfolk. |
| 1016, 30th May | Walstan dies at Taverham and is pulled on wagon to Bawburgh where Bishop Aelfgar officiates at his burial and declares that his remains can be venerated as those of a saint. |
| 1047 | Bishop Aethelmar of Elmham dedicates church at Bawburgh to St. Mary and St. Walstan and a Shrine Chapel to St. Walstan. |
| 1066 | Invasion of England by the Normans army under William of Normandy who becomes King William I of England. |
| 1086 | Doomsday Book confirms William's grant of the Manor of Costessey (including Bawburgh etc. ) to Alan(Rufus) Count of Brittany, Lord of Richmond. |
| 1184 | Alan Viscount of Rohan gives to the Abbey of Bon Repos in Brittany all the rights in the advowsons of the churches of Costessey, Bawburgh etc. |
| 1237 | The Bishop elect of Norwich is found guilty of simony in buying from the Abbot of Bon Repos the patronage of the churches of Bawburgh, Costessey etc. (Calendar of State Papers - Papal letters 1198-1304). |
| 1240 | Bishop William de Ralegh of Norwich appropriates the Rectory of Bawburgh. |
| 1255 | Beatrice widow of John le Barber donates a messuage to the church of St. Walstan to house priests and visiting pilgrims. |
| 1278 | A vicarage is built at Bawburgh on land acquired by the Bishop of Norwich. |
| 1320 | The chancel of Bawburgh Church is rebuilt with money from the shrine of St Walstan. |
| 1348-9 | The Black Death. |
| 1460 | More rebuilding of St.Walstan's Shrine at Bawburgh. |
| 1516 | The Sanctilogium of John of Tynemouth (1290-1349) as revised by John Capgrave (1393-1464) is published by Wynken de Worde as the Nova Legenda Anglie, includes as one of fifteen new 'Lives' that of St Walstan. |
| 1538 | The Shrine Chapel at Bawburgh is destroyed . The Priory of Norwich cathedral abolished : rectory of Bawburgh transferred to the Dean & Chapter of Norwich. |
| 15 &16th
Centuries |
Pre- Reformation Representations of S.Walstan appear in Churches . In Norfolk : 1. SS. Peter and Paul, Barnham Broom S.Walstan in a green robe with white collar and cuffs with 2 calves at his feet. on 15th C screen. 2. Church of the Nativity of Blessed Virgin, Beeston-Next-Mileham Badly defaced figure on 15th C. screen is carrying a scythe and has been identified as S. Walstan. 3. St.Mary's, Denton. A defaced image of S.Walstan depicted in ermine trimmed red robe and carrying scythe appears on a panel from ancient rood loft now made into a chest. 4. All Saints, Litcham. S. Walstan on 15th C screen in red robe with ermine, crowned with sceptre and scythe. 5. St. Mary's, Ludham. On one the twelve panels on one of the best preserved pre- Reformation screens in England S. Walstan appears in red robe with ermine carrying scythe and sceptre. Dated 1493. 6. St James, with Pockthorpe Norwich (declared redundant 1968). Originally housed screen with ten panels now in St Mary Magdalene Church, Norwich one panel shows Walstan wearing green robe and holding wooden staff with blade tied to it. 7. All Saints, Norwich (declared redundant 1977). Perpendicular font dated 1420, now in St Julian's Norwich, carries figure of S.Walstan bearing a wheat sheaf. 8. St. Mary's, Sparham. S. Walstan appears on a 15th C panel (now framed) robed with crown & sceptre carrying scythe and with calf like creatures at feet. In Suffolk : 11. St. Andrew's, Cavenham A 15th C. wall painting discovered in 1967 identified as S. Walstan, crowned carrying a scythe with r. hand raised in Benediction. Two small figures at his feet. 12. St. Mary the Virgin, Earl Stonham . The magnificent single hammerbeam roof , dated 1460, the wall posts have 22 canopied niches containing carved figures. The ninth figure on the S. side of nave is S. Walstan; all figures are minus their heads (William Dowsing 1640's). In Essex: 13. St Peter & St. Paul, Foxearth. The figure of S. Walstan with crown and scythe appears on the early 16th Century rood screen. The male figures on th south side ( l. to r. ) are Christ, Alban, Walstan, Felix, Edmund, and Augustine of Hippo (the Doctor). |
| 1546 | A
version of the legend of S. Walstan was included by Bishop Bale
his book The Actes of Englyshe Votaryes. Bale
renowned for his earthy language and want of good taste and
moderation made a comparison of S. Walstan with the Greek god
Priapus in that both men and beasts ".... who had lost their genitals were made whole and entirely cured at Bawburgh" |
| 1555 | The Manor of
Costessey granted to Sir Henry Jernegan for service to Queen Mary.
Incuding the manor of Bawburgh etc., CLICK TO SEE The Jerningham / Stafford Family and Roman Catholicism in Costessey) |
| 1663 | Bawburgh Church had fallen into disrepair, at the Revision of Church under Archbishop Laud it is repaired and retiled. |
| 1637-38 | Bishop Wren of Norwich commissions further repairs to Bawburgh Church. |
| 1648 | Sir Henry Jernegan receives Oliver Cromwell's protection for his Estates. |
| 1658 | The "ancient tryptich " of the English Life, owned by a recusant ' Mr. Clarke ' of Bowthorpe, is copied by an anonymous scribe. Archdeacon Philip Tenison who died in 1660 and whose brass shroud memorial is in Bawburgh church is believed to have been responsible for the preservation of the copy . It was in the library of Archbishop Thomas Tenison (Philip's grandson) who made amendments to it before it was lodged in the Lambeth library as Item 8. |
| 1756-58 | Alban Butler's The Lives of Fathers, Martyrs,and Other Principal Saints published and includes St, Walstan; he does not attribute Walstan's birth to Blythburgh. |
| 1761 | Bishop Challoner's Memorial of Ancient British Piety also includes St. Walstan. |
| 1763 | A discussion about the curative properties of waters from the Well appears in The Gentleman's Magazine A correspondent reports that up to 2,000 people gathered there on a Sunday morning ! In the same year the Norwich Gazette reported that a 'concourse' of people at the Well were up to no good and 'much confusion ensued and many heads were broken in the scuffle' |
| 1805 | History of Norfolk (3 Vols) by Francis Blomefield was published. This well used work contains an account of the life of St. Walstan and includes Bishop Bale's unfortunate comment likening Walstan with Priapus. |
| 1819 | A Mr Francis Bunn of Wymondham suffered for most of his life with severe pain in one leg and lameness. While in Ireland in the Army he married an Irish catholic wife, Mary. In 1817, due to Mary's persistence, they went to the Costessey to have their daughter baptised by Lord Stafford's Catholic priest. Mr Bunn had been strongly anti-catholic but on studying the Catholic faith he was converted . In 1819 after visiting St. Walstan's Well he was cured and had no recurrence of his former affliction up to his death in 1856. ( he is shown living in Costessey at the 1851 census) |
| 1820 - 72 | Father
Husenbeth ( Rev. Dr F.C. Husenbeth
D.D. )
was priest to Lord Stafford and the Catholic community of Costessey for
52 years. He was very much involved in the building of a Catholic
Chapel there which was dedicated to St. Walstan and St. Mary in
1841. Holy Water taken from St. Walstan's Well at Bawburgh was
used in the opening ceremony. Fr. Husenbeth became St.Walstan's third biographer researching the Saint and his miracles with great thoroughness. He published his Life of St. Walstan, Confessor in 1859. |
| 1864 | Father Ignatius (aka Joseph Lyne ) , a deacon of the Established Church contentiously established the 'Third Order' of lay brothers and sisters in Elm Hill, Norwich, according to his interpretation of a revival of the Benedictines . To publicise the ' Third Order' he organised a pilgrimage to Bawburgh. Over four hundred took part, led by Ignatius followed by the 'brothers and sisters' carrying banners, rich supporters in carriages and a horde of poorer people . The audacity of the ' pilgrimage' went a long way to sealing the fate of Ignatius and his Order as the cry of ' No Popery ' rang around Norwich. |
| 1901 | The Nova Legenda Anglie was republished in Latin by Carl Horstman Clarendon Press, Oxford |
| 1909 | A window in the newly dedicated St John's Cathedral in Norwich contains six medallions of East Anglian Saints including St. Walstan. |
| 1912 | Pilgrimage to Bawburgh by the delegates to the third National Catholic Congress held at Norwich from 4th to 8th May. This was organised by Mr Stafford Henry Jerningham who entertained the delegates at Costessey Hall. |
| 1913 | On the 7th September 1913 a pilgimage was made by over 300 Norfolk Catholics to Bawburgh to give thanks for the first of many recorded miracles in the twentieth century. |
| 1917 | Publishing of "LIVES OF ST. WALSTAN" by M.R. James , Provost of Kings College Cambridge, ( In Proceedings of the Norf. & Norw. Arch. Soc. ) |
| 1931 | In August 1931 an Anglo-Catholic Pilgrimage was made to Bawburgh. This was led by Rev. W.E. Duxson of St. John Maddermarket. In the procession were the Nuns from St. Augustines Lodge, Costessey and the Rev A. Hope Patten, Vicar of Walsingham. |
| 1934 | Second Anglo-Catholic Pilgrimage. |
| 1935 | Third Anglo-Catholic Pilgrimage. |
| 1951 | A Pilgrim's Service held with a procession to the Church and Well. The Vicars of Bawburgh, Taverham and Cringleford took part with the handbell ringers of Hethersett. The Rev A. Barwood of Taverham sprinkled the pilgrims with well water using a branch of yew. |
| 1952 | The water of the well declared to be unfit for drinking purposes by the local Rural District Council. Water from the well continued to be sent out and taken for curative purposes. |
| 1955 | Dedication of St. Walstan's Church Rongai , Kenya. A description of Bawburgh and a piece of stone from ithe Church of SS Mary & Walstan. |
| 1976 | Parishioners from the Anglican churches of St. Edmund's, Taverham , St.Edmund's and St. Helen's, Costessey and the Catholic Church of St. Walstan in Costessey walked in procession from Taverham to Bawburgh. The Rev Robert Loveless of Bawburgh conducted a service fo rover 100 pilgrims. |
| 1982 | The members of Bawburgh Methodist Chapel shared in the St Walstan Day service in Bawburgh Church. |
| 1989 | St.
Walstan was elected Patron Saint of the British Food & Farming
Year. The Norwich Diocessan Board of Social Responsibility designated
1989 as " St. Walstan's Year ". At Bowthorpe (see 1658) a new inter- denominational worship centre was opened. A concrete sculpture of St.Walstan stands at the door of St. Walstan's Prayer Cell. On Sunday 28th May more than one hundred pilgrims led by the Bishop of Lynn walked from Taverham to Bawburgh where an open-air service was addressed by the Bishop of Norwich the Right Rev. Peter Nott and was attended by clergy from other Churches. Instead of drinking the water of the well a special ale was brewed to commemorate St. Walstan and the British Food and Farming Year. |
| 20th Century | During this century many other representations of St. Walstan have been placed in Churches in Norfolk . |
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