Saint
The Golden Coffin
A saint in gold, they said. The spades found ash.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Large grassy mound beside the church
- Legend from
- Local tradition
- Tone
- Curious
They dug for the saint's golden coffin. They found only ashes.
Just south of the churchyard at St Weonards rises a large mound, the Tump, about 45 yards across and 14 feet high. It was traditionally said to be the burial place of St Weonard, perhaps a local Celtic saint, shown in old glass as a hermit with a woodcutter's axe, lying in a golden coffin. When it was opened in 1855, no gold appeared. Beneath a vault of stones were ashes, charcoal and fragments of burnt human bone: two Bronze Age cremations, with no urns or objects. The Normans seem to have used it as a castle motte, and for centuries it hosted village fêtes and morris dancing.