AN ANGLO SAXON VILLAGE

 

The village of  Lyminge sits in an area of outstanding natural beauty in the Kent Downs. I want to tell you all about Lyminge and the people who live in the village, because to turn this nation around we need to educate people to see the positive side of their heritage and ethnic roots and I think Lyminge has set an example of how it should be done.

Tayne Field in centre of Lyminge

In 2013 the 7th Century feasting hall of the Jute Royal family was excavated on Tayne field in the centre of the village. The hall was built many believe by king Hermenric son of Octa who claimed a direct line to Wodin. The dig discovered the foundations of the long hall which measured 20 meters by 8.5 meters. The dig also found Anglo Saxon spear heads and a broach of a Raven, Wodin's bird. Since the dig ended local ladies have created a Lyminge tapestry using wool on cotton depicting life in the village during the 7th century showing ploughing, fishing, cooking etc, everything on the tapestry is based on artefacts and evidence found during the dig. The village has really embraced its Anglo Saxon history and culture each year now hold an Anglo Saxon festival.

In the 6th and 7th Century's, Kent was politically and economically linked to the Frankish kingdom across the channel, after King Ethelberht married the Frankish Queen Bertha sister of Charibert King of Paris. It was Bertha who brought the poison of the Catholic faith into England. Ethelberht was bribed into accepting the arrival of Augustine in 597 and converting to the faith. It wasn't long afterwards that the Frankish priest's arrived  and were allowed a free hand to burn and destroy heathen sites in Kent by Ethelbert. There is now growing evidence that the priests forced the Jutish people under the threats of death to convert and forget their gods.

Lyminge church is 1,000 years old but this church was built on the site of an old Saxon wooden church which was it self built on a heathen spring dedicated to the old goddess of water . The Saxon church was built by Queen Ethelberga daughter of Ethelberht and his Frankish Queen. Ethelberga was the widow of Edwin king of Northumberland and retired to Lyminge as Abbess after his death.  

Until 1898 Lyminge church was called St Mary and St Eadburg.   Eadburg was Abbess of Minister in Thanet upon her death around 800 A.D. her bones were buried at Lyminage, until 1085 when Eadburg and Ethelberga bones were dug up and taken to Canterbury. When the Papist priests came many heathen sites were Christianised through their association with a local saint. In Lyminge the heathen spring became a Christian one dedicated to Eadburg. For all heathens water has a major role in our beliefs because water gives you access to the spirit world. In 1899 a wooden structure was built over the spring which feeds the Nailbourne chalk stream, and re-named after Ethelberga . The spring was one of the few sources of water in the Downs and is probably why Lyminge was settled by the Jutes. It remained the villages only source of water until mains water arrived in 1905. 

What happened in Lyminge is important it demonstrates the violence the Catholics used to destroy our English faith our culture and connection to nature. We don't know how many were killed by the Catholics in Kent during the decades after Augustine's arrival but from what we know of how the Franks massacred our fellow Saxons in Europe it was likely thousands of people. We know the spring was once a heathen centre of worship and feasting that was adopted by the Catholic church.

Lyminge is a nice friendly beautiful village and the way it celebrates it's Anglo Saxon past in such a positive English way, is an example of how we should promote our culture and faith.