He was the first English king to die a Christian martyr, a romantic hero, the exiled prince who won and lost his kingdom in battle and proclaimed a saint. His name is hidden in plain sight among the hills and dales of northern England. He was St Oswald, in honour of whom Filey’s twelfth century […]

Visit St. Mary’s Church at Sledmere and you will find a stained glass depiction of King Edwin of Northumbria. The King, now raised to sainthood, is clutching a broad sword, but it is the large stone church he is cradling that is the focus of attention. Edwin’s legacy is not only the Archbishopric of York, it […]

It was a kingdom forged in battle and lost in battle. A kingdom that set the template for the modern Anglo-Saxon state. A kingdom that produced the greatest written text of dark age Europe. It was called Northumbria, the lands north of the Humber. In this first part we will travel from dark age beach […]