|
 Log in |
Register
|
|
|
Folklore
| A confusing tangled tale revolves around a bell here. Offa was supposed to have lived in Sutton Walls, or alternatively down in Marden below. As mentioned, there is a church on the spot where Offa murdered St. Ethelbert, and a few yards away, a pond. When the pond was being cleaned out, a bell was found, eighteen feet below the level of the adjacent ground. The Dean of Hereford said (in the 1840s) that the bell "was formed of a sheet of mixed metal, which had been hammered into shape: it is four-sided.. riveted together on each side.." The Herefordshire SMR says it was of iron and bronze, and calls it 'Celtic', but it is surely newer - and where is it now? He also said, "There is a tradition at Marden among the common people that there lies in the river Lugg, near the church, a large silver bell, which will never be taken out until two white oxen are attached to it, to draw it from the river." and elsewhere (eg at the Hereford Times ) there's talk of a mermaid - the oxen had a go pulling the bell out, but the mermaid dragged it back. It seems like one of those chicken-and-egg situations (like with the Mold cape) where you can't tell how much story there really was before the discovery. See the Archaeological Journal for 1848 (v5) p330 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XZ08AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA330 |
Posted by Rhiannon26th January 2008ce Edited 26th January 2008ce
|
Comments (1) |
|
| http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/education/images/handbell_marden.jpg2.jpg |
Posted by Penske666 7th February 2008ce |
| You must be logged in to add a comment | |
Top of page