Lost Centuries Of St Osyth - St Osyth, Essex
Episode 9 · 2005-02-27
- Documentary
- Mystery
Episode overview
7th century Vikings sailed up an Essex creek. Legends tells hold they captured a nun who was offered her modesty or her mortality, chose death. The nun carried her severed head up the hill to her church and collapsed. A spring bubbled up. The nun was St Osyth, the wife of the King of Essex. The site of her death became a shrine and a settlement grew up. In the 12th century Richard de Belmais, Bishop of London, founded an Augustinian Priory in the village. It prospered until the Dissolution in 1539 and was one of the wealthiest monasteries in Europe. A few years ago a local boatbuilder noticed some decayed timbers in the mud of St Osyth Creek. The tides gradually revealed more of these timbers, which are on a significant bend in the channel. These timbers could be the remains of a medieval wharf which served the town in its early days, but they could also be the key to a much bigger mystery. The present town seems to date to the 15th century but the famous Priory is much older.
50 minutes
Season 12 episodes
1. The Manor That's Back to Front - Chenies Manor House, Buckinghamshire2005-01-02
2. The Monastery and the Mansion - Nether Poppleton, Yorkshire2005-01-09
3. The Bombers in the Marsh - Warton near Preston, Lancashire2005-01-16
4. Fighting On The Frontier - Drumlanrig, Dumfries and Galloway2005-01-23
5. A Neolithic Cathedral? - Northborough, Peterborough2005-01-30
6. In Search of Henry V's Flagship, Grace Dieu - Bursledon, Hampshire2005-02-06
7. Going Upmarket With The Romans - Standish, Gloucestershire2005-02-13
8. Picts And Hermits: Cave Dwellers Of Fife - Wemyss, Fife2005-02-20
9. Lost Centuries Of St Osyth - St Osyth, Essex2005-02-27
10. The Puzzle Of Picket's Farm - South Perrott, Dorset2005-03-06
11. Norman Neighbours - Skipsea, East Yorkshire2005-03-01
12. Tower Blocks And Togas - South Shields, Tyneside2005-03-20
13. Animal Farm - Hanslope, Milton Keynes2005-04-03
