Farndon

Overview
Farndon lies on the English border with Wales. Across the bridge, over the River Dee which marks the border, is the Welsh village of Holt. It was here, in 1643, that 'grenados' were used during the 'English' Civil War (against the Welsh). This was possibly the first use of grenades in the UK.

Farndon ward lies in the rural south-west of Chester district and is made up of the parishes of Churton-by-Aldford, Churton-by-Farndon, Crewe-by-Farndon, Edgerley, Farndon, and King's Marsh.

These days, Farndon is probably most famous for being the home of Paul Burrell, former butler to the late Princess Diana. He owns a florist shop in the village and is rumoured to drink in The Farndon (unkindly renamed from 'The Farndon Arms' and previously 'The Raven').

A Brief History


Farndon was possibly an important pre-historic site. There is an early Neolithic 'mortuary enclosure' discovered by aerial photography, and a circular feature which has tentatively been identified as a 'hengiform' monument - the latter possibly dates from 3100 to c 2400 BC. Stone-age burial customs are not well understood, but there may have been a practice see 'excarnation' of allowing bodies to decompose to skeletal remains which were then moved back to a place nearer to the home of the deceased. The English name is reported to mean "Fern Hill", and has been given as Fearndune, Farndune, Ferentone, Ferendon, Faryngdon, and Ferneton, amongst other variations, since its first mention in 924AD.

Sandstone caves in the area include that which housed 'Mad John' Harris, the hairy hermit of Harthill.

Poulton Timber Henge was rebuilt!

[http://chester.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Timeline#Edward_the_Elder.2826_October_899_-_17_July_924.29._Son_of_Alfred_the_Great. Edward the Elder], son of King Alfred and brother of Ethelfleda (Æðelflǣd - who has links with Chester Castle), died in battle here, on 17 July 924 (William of Malmesbury records a Mercian revolt that year at Chester, which Edward was busy putting down). Edward's body was removed for burial elsewhere.

Thomas Pennant, in his book Tours in Wales (1874), (citing a MS communicated by the Reverend Mr Price, Keeper of the Bodleian Library), states that the nephews of Defydd ap Gruffydd were ‘drowned in the River Dee’ at Holt Bridge by their guardians, John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, and Roger Mortimer the younger. This, and perhaps a double drowning recorded on graves at Farndon (St Chad's) churchyard, possibly led to various legends about the 'Bridge of Screams'.

John Speed, the famous Cartographer (and author of an early map of Chester} was born in Farndon.

The "Mysterious" Death of Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder, king of the Anglo-Saxons (899-924), was probably born in the 870s. He was the second child of a marriage of 868, and led troops in battle in 893. He was the son of Alfred the Great, the famous king of the Wessex Anglo-Saxons, and Ealhswith, a Mercian noblewoman. Edward had a younger brother, Æthelweard, and three sisters, including Æthelflæd. His father was an unlikely king: three of Alfred's brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred, reigned in turn before Alfred. Alfred has his first major fight with the Danes (under Guthrum and others) in 871-878 at about the time that the remains of St Werbergh were tranferred to Chester. He won a decisive victory in the Battle of Edington in 878 and made an agreement with the Vikings, creating what was known as the Danelaw in the North and East of England. Alfred also oversaw the conversion of Viking leader Guthrum to Christianity. Alfred has his second major fight with a fresh wave of Danes in around 894, just after Guthrum's death. Alfred died on 26 October 899 and Edward succeeded to the throne. Under Alfred the balance of power between Wessex and Mercia had shifted such that Mercia became the lesser state. Alfred had married his daughter Æthelflæd to the Mercian Æthelred to cement relations.

While the illustrious Alfred ("the Great") is incredibly well-known, perhaps in some cases only for burning cakes that he had been asked to watch by a farmer's wife while hiding-out from the Danes. Edward the Elder is far less of a national icon, although he played a pivotal role in the transformaation of the cluster of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into a coherent English state under one monarch, something that his father had aspired to but had nver actually achieved. Edward's formidable sister Æthelflæd has been pictured as "The lady of the Mercians" and a powerful warrior-queen and his son Æþelstān is also better known. Even his appellation "the elder" is a bit dull as compared with "Edward the Martyr" (from whom it distinguishes) and "Edward the Confessor", and even caries the connotation of a rather boring old man. The Normans did not help his reputation with their re-numbering, such that Edward "Hammer of the Scots" became Edward I. There are only the merest scraps of information available on his character: "..very strong and handsome and of great intelligence.." (Peter of Langtoft) or "..a gentle and pious man, amiable and affable to everyone.." (Richard of Cirencester) - although much of this may simply have been written to fill space on the pages of later chronicles.

Becoming king was not straightforward for Edward. A cousin, Æthelwold, disputed the succession and seized the royal estates of Wimborne, symbolically important as the place where his father was buried, and Christchurch, both in Dorset. Edward marched with his army to the nearby Iron Age hillfort at Badbury Rings. Æthelwold declared that he would live or die at Wimborne, but then sneaked away in the night and rode to Northumbria, where the Danes accepted him as king. Edward the Elder was consecrated at Kingston-upon-Thames by Alfred's Archbishop Plegmund: the "kings stone" traditionally used is still there. Plegmund may have had an influence on the choice of location: the first surviving record of Kingston is from AD 838 as the site of a meeting between King Egbert of Wessex and Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury. Also, it is perhaps significant that Kingston lay on the boundary between Edward's Wessex and Plegmund's Mercia, until the union of these two states in the early tenth century.

Edward illustrates well how much intercourse there was between Britain and Europe by reference to the marriages of his daughters:


 * Eadgifu (902 – after 955), who married Charles the Simple the King of Western Francia from 898 until 922 and the King of Lotharingia from 911 until 919–23.


 * Eadgyth (910–946), who married Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.


 * Eadhild, who married Hugh Capet, Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris.


 * Ælfgifu who married "a prince near the Alps", sometimes identified with Conrad of Burgundy or Boleslaus II of Bohemia or Boleslaus I, Duke of Bohemia.



According to Asser in his "Life of King Alfred", Edward and his sister Ælfthryth were educated at court by male and female tutors, and read ecclesiastical and secular works in English, such as the Psalms and Old English poems. They were taught the courtly qualities of gentleness and humility, and Asser wrote that they were obedient to their father and friendly to visitors. This is a rare case of an Anglo-Saxon prince and princess receiving the same upbringing and it is not unlikely that Æthelflæd, despite the troubled times of her childhood, also recieved at least some education, possible with the assistance of Plegmund who was Mercian and had lived near Chester before joining the court of Alfred.

Life
Edward was a child throughout the early wars his father fought with the Danes but was more of a soldier than a soldier/scholar like his father. By 892, he was commanding part of the Anglo-Saxon army. As a son of a king, Edward was an ætheling, a prince of the royal house who was eligible for kingship. Even though he had the advantage of being the eldest son of the reigning king, his accession was not assured as he had cousins who had a strong claim to the throne. Æthelhelm and Æthelwold were sons of Æthelred, Alfred's older brother and predecessor as king, but they had been passed over because they were infants during the troubled times when their father died. Asser gives more information about Edward's childhood and youth than is known about other Anglo-Saxon princes, providing details about the training of a prince in a period of Carolingian influence, and Yorke suggests that we may know so much due to Alfred's efforts to portray his son as the most throneworthy ætheling. In 893 the 23 year-old Edward defeated the Vikings in the Battle of Farnham, although he was unable to follow up his victory as his troops' period of service had expired and he had to release them. The situation was saved by the arrival of troops from London led by Æthelred, alderman of Mercia and Alfred’s son-in-law, bringing with him a Mercian force. The raiding army of the Vikings had captured much loot before starting to return to Essex and their fleet. Having intercepted them as Farnham, Edward defeated them and recaptured the booty. Edward must have been of marriageable age in that year as his oldest (supposedly legitimate) son Æthelstan was born about 894. In all Edward was to father somewhere in the region of eighteen children.

After Alfred's death in 899, Æthelwold disputed the throne with Edward the Elder. As senior ætheling (prince of the royal dynasty eligible for kingship), Æthelwold had a strong claim to the throne. He attempted to raise an army to support his claim, but was unable to get sufficient support to meet Edward in battle and, as noted above, fled to Viking-controlled Northumbria, where he was accepted as king. In 901 or 902 Æthelwold sailed with a fleet to Essex, where he was also accepted as king. The following year Æthelwold persuaded the East Anglian Danes to attack Edward's territory in Wessex and Mercia. Edward retaliated with a raid on East Anglia, forcing the enemy to return home in order to protect their own lands. When Edward withdrew the men of Kent lingered and met the East Anglian Danes at the Battle of the Holme. The Danes were victorious but suffered heavy losses, including the death of Æthelwold, probably also Eohric the Danish king of East Anglia, Brihtsige, son of the ætheling Beornoth, and two holds, Ysopa and Oscetel, which ended Æthelwold's Revolt and hence the challenge to Edward's rule. The West Saxon chronicler who gave the fullest account of the battle was at pains to explain why Edward and the rest of the English were not present, as if this had been a subject of criticism.



Other than a few charters and his role in the coronation little is known about the involvement of Archbishop Plegmund in the activities of Edward the Elder and Æthelflæd during their rulership of Wessex and Mercia. However it may be that it was through Plegmund that one focus of their activities shifted to Chester. It can be speculated that Plegmund may have at least discussed with Æthelflæd the establishment of the cult of Werbergh at Chester. Plegmund also took the opportunity to re-organise the church. When Edward came to the throne Wessex had two dioceses, Winchester, held by Denewulf, and Sherborne, held by Asser. In 908 Denewulf died and was replaced the following year by Frithestan; soon afterwards Winchester was divided into two sees, with the creation of the diocese of Ramsbury covering Wiltshire and Berkshire, while Winchester was left with Hampshire and Surrey. Forged charters date the division to 909, but this may not be correct. Asser died in the same year, and at some date between 909 and 918 Sherborne was divided into three sees, Crediton covering Devon and Cornwall, and Wells covering Somerset, leaving Sherborne with Dorset. The effect of the changes was to strengthen the status of Plegmund's Canterbury compared with Winchester and Sherborne, and probably soured relations with Winchester. The records of these changes to organisation include documents which are full of apparent anachronisms and/or errors, or possibly reflect that many years later some of the changes were still raising issues.

In the 910s, Edward conquered Viking-ruled southern England in partnership with his sister Æthelflæd, who had succeeded as Lady of the Mercians following the death of her husband in 911. Historians dispute how far Mercia was dominated by Wessex during this period. After Æthelflæd's death in June 918, her daughter Ælfwynn briefly became second Lady of the Mercians, but in December Edward took her into Wessex and imposed direct rule on Mercia. There is no certain record of Ælfwynn after her removal from power.

By the end of the 910s he ruled Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia, and only Northumbria remained under Viking rule. Edward was admired by medieval chroniclers, and in the view of William of Malmesbury, he was "much inferior to his father in the cultivation of letters" but "incomparably more glorious in the power of his rule". He was largely ignored by modern historians until the 1990s, and Nick Higham described him as "perhaps the most neglected of English kings", partly because few primary sources for his reign survive. His reputation rose in the late twentieth century and he is now seen as destroying the power of the Vikings in southern England while laying the foundations for a south-centred united English kingdom.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, there was a general submission of rulers in Britain to Edward in 920:


 * "Then [Edward] went from there into the Peak District to Bakewell and ordered a borough to be built in the neighbourhood and manned. And then the king of the Scots and all the people of the Scots, and Rægnald and the sons of Eadwulf and all who live in Northumbria, both English and Danish, Norsemen and others, and also the king of the Strathclyde Welsh and all the Strathclyde Welsh, chose him as father and lord."

This passage was regarded as a straightforward report by most historians until the late twentieth century, and Frank Stenton observed that "each of the rulers named in this list had something definite to gain from an acknowledgement of Edward's overlordship". Since the 1980s this submission has been viewed with increasing scepticism, particularly as the passage in the Chronicle is the only evidence for it, unlike other submissions such as that one in 927 to Æthelstan, for which there is independent support from literary sources and coins. Alfred P. Smyth points out that Edward was not in a position to impose the same conditions on the independent Scots and the Northumbrians as he could on conquered Vikings, and argues that the Chronicle presented a treaty between kings as a submission to Wessex. Stafford observes that the rulers had met at Bakewell on the border between Mercia and Northumbria, and that meetings on borders were generally considered to avoid any implication of submission by either side. Davidson points out that the wording "chosen as father and lord" applied to conquered army groups and burhs, not relations with other kings. In his view:


 * "The idea that this meeting represented a "submission", while it must remain a possibility, does however seem unlikely. The textual context of the chronicler's passage makes his interpretation of the meeting suspect, and ultimately, Edward was in no position to force the subordination of, or dictate terms to, his fellow kings in Britain."

Local myth in Bakewell is that the site was originally that of "Baedeca's wella", which meant Baedeca's Springs. It is thought that this must have been a person, a Saxon who settled by the warm springs which rose at Bakewell where the limestone meets shale. According to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, all those who lived in Northumbria who were English, Danish and Norse, and chose Edward as their "father and lord" due to his prowess from building the borough there. "The North Derbyshire Archaeological Survey" of 1981, page 121, identified a possible earthwork on the east bank of the river Wye which could be the burh. This suggestion was taken up by local historian Jan Stetka, who carried out further documentary work and survey. This was published in 1997 as "King Edward the Elder's Burh - the Lost Village of Burton (Burh-town) by Bakewell", an Occasional Paper of the Bakewell and District Historical Society. The matter is still the subject of debate, although the parish church at Bakewell also dates from the 10th century and may indicate some development there at the time.

Edward had continued Æthelflæd's policy of founding burhs in the north-west, at Thelwall and Manchester in 919, and Cledematha (Rhuddlan) at the mouth of the River Clwyd in North Wales in 921. Edward's eponym "the Elder" was first used in the 10th century in Wulfstan's Life of St Æthelwold, to distinguish him from the later King Edward the Martyr. His legacy is now generally regarded as successfully destroying the power of the Vikings in southern England, and laying the foundations for a south-centred united English kingdom.

Death


Edward's imposition of direct control from 919 is a likely context for a change which ignored Mercian sensibilities. Resentment at the changes, at the imposition of rule by distant Wessex, and at fiscal demands by Edward's reeves, may have provoked the revolt at Chester. There are confusing histories associated with Bakewell Castle with some theories suggesting that (as described above) it was associated with the homage he demanded of others in 920, while alternative theories suggest that it was built in 924 as a measure against a possible Mercian invasion. Yet other sources have no castle being built prior to that of the Norman earl of Chester Ranulph De Gernon, or even that the Norman motte was built on top of Edward's fort.

Accord to a consensus view, Edward died on 17 July 924, at Farndon. Two manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ('A' and 'F') place Edward's death in 925, but three others ('B', 'C', and 'D') assign the event to 924. MS 'E' records the obit under both years. Contemporary sources record no further details, but William of Malmesbury (Gesta Regum, ii.133) records that he died a few days after quelling a combined Mercian / Welsh revolt. This would suggest that he died of injuries gained in battle. At the time of his death (aged 49-50), his kingdom was the most powerful in the British Isles. Edwards son, Æthelstan, was at once accepted by the Mercians as king. Æthelstan's half-brother Ælfweard may have been recognised as king in Wessex, but died within weeks of their father. Æthelstan still encountered resistance in Wessex for several months, and was not crowned until September 925. In 927 he conquered the last remaining Viking kingdom, York, making him the first Anglo-Saxon ruler of the whole of England.

The parish church of Farndon is set within a circular churchyard, an indication of an early origin, as is its dedication to St Chad. It has been suggested that there was an early minster parish based on Farndon which encompassed the medieval parishes of Farndon, Aldford, Tilston and Coddington, including everything between the Dee and the southern end of the Mid-Cheshire Ridge. Farndon has several characteristics which are indicative of a multiple estate; and possibly in the 10th century this was under royal patronage. The settlement plan, however, is more reminiscent of a monastic site and it is possible that since Farndon originally included Aldford, that the royal centre was located there instead. It has been suggested that Edgar the pacific rowed to St Johns at Chester from Farndon rather than from Edgar's Field. So Farndon was possibly a royal base which may have been established around the time that Chester had been effectively re-founded by Edward and his sister. Yet Chester apparently revolts against Edward: could it be that there is more to the death of Edward?

Succession
Events around the succession are unclear. Ælfweard, Edward's eldest son by his second wife Ælfflæd, had ranked above Æthelstan (son by his first wife) in attesting a charter in 901, and Edward may have intended Ælfweard to be his successor as king, either of Wessex only or of the whole kingdom. If Edward had intended his realms to be divided after his death, his deposition of his sister's daughter Ælfwynn from the rulership of Mercia in 918 may have been intended to prepare the way for Æþelstān's succession as king of Mercia. When Ecgwynn died or was put aside so Edward could make a more prestigious marriage to Ælfflæd, Æþelstān was sent to be educated at the court of his aunt Æthelflæd and uncle Æthelred in Mercia, possibly to avoid conflicts with his stepmother and her children, or even the possibility of assasination. Wessex and Mercia were at this stage still recent partners and not yet integrated into a single England.

When Edward died, Æþelstān was apparently with him in Mercia (at Farndon), meanwhile Ælfweard was in Wessex. While Mercia acknowledged Æþelstān as king, Wessex may have chosen Ælfweard. However, Ælfweard outlived his father by only sixteen days, dying at the age of 22 at Oxford, disrupting any succession plan and meaning that he was king for a very short period (17 July 924 – c. 2 August 924) if at all. Nothing is known of the circumstances of the relatively young Ælfweard's death other than the very convenient timing for Æþelstān. No reign is explicitly attributed to him. However, a list of West-Saxon kings in the 12th-century Textus Roffensis mentions him as his father's successor, with a reign of four weeks. He is also described as king in the New Minster Liber Vitae, an 11th-century source based in part on earlier material. The text of the latter is now in the British Museum.

As noted above, opposition to Æþelstān seems to have continued even after the coronation. According to William of Malmesbury, an otherwise unknown nobleman called Alfred plotted to blind Æþelstān on account of his supposed illegitimacy, although it is unknown whether he aimed to make himself king or was acting on behalf of Edwin, Ælfweard's younger half-brother. Blinding would have been a sufficient disability to render Æþelstān ineligible for kingship without incurring the odium attached to murder. Tensions between Æþelstān and Winchester seem to have continued for some years. The Bishop of Winchester, Frithestan, did not attend the coronation or witness any of Æþelstān's earlier known charters. Frithestan first witnessed a charter of Æþelstān's in April 928, and thereafter he witnessed regularly until his resignation in 931, but he always attested in a lower position than his seniority would normally have entitled him to. In 1827, St Cuthbert's tomb at Durham was opened, and among the objects found was a stole and maniple which appear from inscriptions on them to have been given by Queen Ælfflæd to Bishop Frithestan, presumably before Edward put her aside to marry his third wife in about 919. Æþelstān probably took the relics from Winchester to donate to Cuthbert's tomb, another indication of his bad relations with Frithestan and perhaps of a somewhat spiteful character.



In 933 Edwin was drowned, supposedly in a shipwreck in the North Sea. Conveniently, this removed yet another person who could have had a claim to the throne in preference to Æþelstān. His maternal first cousin, Adelolf, Count of Boulogne, took Edwin's body for burial at St Bertin Abbey in Saint-Omer. Just why this overseas burial should occur is unclear, as is the precise nature of the relations between Adelolf and his cousin. In 926 Adelolf has been sent as an ambassador to Æþelstān by Hugh Capet, effective ruler of northern France under Rudolph, Duke of Burgundy, who had been elected king of France in 923. Adelolf was to seek the English king's agreement to a marriage between Hugh and another of Æþelstān's sisters. Among the lavish gifts sent to Æþelstān, an avid collector of relics, were said to be the sword of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (with supposed fragments of the cross including a nail and thorn set in crystal in the hilt) and the later to become notorious Holy Lance. There are several rival lances and it appears that William of Malmesbury was mistaken when he stated that it was given to Æþelstān - although it would have been impressive for the lance to have turned up at Æþelstān's crushing defeat of the combined Norse-Celtic force in the Battle of Brunanburh in 937. Æþelstān gave these relics to Malmesbury abbey. Others, more bizarre, like the head of St. Branwaladr or St.Samson’s arm he gave to other churches. The whereabouts of these supposed relics are unknown.

The twelfth-century chronicler Symeon of Durham said that Æþelstān ordered Edwin to be drowned. The same story was recounted by William of Malmesbury, who is not always accurate, "King Æþelstān ordered his brother Edwin to be drowned in the sea". William's account associates Edwin's death with the earlier plot to blind Æþelstān and replace him with Edwin. In this version, Æþelstān is convinced by jealous courtiers to have Edwin sent to sea in a leaky boat, without oars, without food, and without water. Despairing, Edwin throws himself into the sea and drowns. Other versions are less conspiratorial. The Francian Annales Bertiniani compiled by Folcuin provide more detail:


 * "For in the year of the Incarnate Word 933, when the same King Edwin, driven by some disturbance in his kingdom, embarked on a ship, wishing to cross to this side of the sea, a storm arose and the ship was wrecked and he was overwhelmed in the midst of the waves. And when his body was washed ashore, Count Adelolf, since he was his kinsman, received it with honour and bore it to the monastery of Saint Bertin [at Saint-Omer] for burial."

In addition, the story has passed into the foundation legends of at least one Masonic lodge (AL 5782), with a local connection in that it was associated with the Bridgegate in Chester. Drawing all these elements together, the death of Edward while at Farndon was certainly advantageous for Æþelstān (who just happened to be present to be made king), as was Ælfweard's "sudden and convenient" death sixteen days later. Edwin's boating accident removed the last of Æþelstān's potential rivals and put the rulership of England in a Mercian rather than a Wessex camp.

Aftermath
Æthelstan died at Gloucester on 27 October 939. His grandfather Alfred, his father Edward, and his half-brother Ælfweard had been buried at Winchester, where the New Minster was probably established as a royal shrine, together with other royalty including Edward's mother Ealhswith and Edward's second wife Ælfflæd, but Æthelstan chose not to honour the city associated with opposition to his rule, or the minster wher his step-mother was buried. After Æþelstān's death, the men of York immediately chose the Viking king of Dublin, Olaf Guthfrithsson, as their king, and Anglo-Saxon control of the north, seemingly made safe by the victory of Brunanburh, collapsed. The reigns of Æþelstān's half-brothers Edmund (939–946) and Eadred (946–955) were largely devoted to regaining control. Chester was an important base in 942 when there was collusion between the Welsh and the Scandinavian kingdom of York during King Edmund's campaign against the latter. The eldest son of King Edmund and Saint Elgiva, Eadwig was chosen by the nobility to succeed his uncle Eadred as King. He was succeeded by his brother Edgar The Pacific who seized the Northumbrian and Mercian kingdoms from Eadwig, in around 955 and became overall king on the death of Eadwig a few year later. As noted above, while Edgar is often said to have made his famous voyage on the River Dee from Edgar's Field, others have suggested his journey was made from a royal palace at or near Farndon. Edgar seized the Northumbrian and Mercian kingdoms from his older brother, Edwy, in around 955 and became king on the death of Edwy a few year later. Edgar's reign was a peaceful one, and it is probably fair to say that it saw the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England at its height. Although the political unity of England was the achievement of his predecessors, it was Edgar who saw to its consolidation.

There are no identified remains of the supposed "palace" of Edward or Edgar at Farndon. It may have been built upon at some later time, erased by movements of the river, or perhaps is still to be discovered.

Related Pages

 * Cheshire Castles: for the nearby Holt Castle and a murder at Farndon Bridge;
 * Farndon: on the River Dee;
 * Dark Ages;
 * Plegmund;

Sources and Links

 * Farndon Parish History website by Mike Royden:
 * Holt Local History website;