Saint
The Lily Beds
Lilies where he bled; silence where he prayed.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Woodland with a carved wooden dragon bench
- Legend from
- Local legend
- Best time
- May, when the lilies of the valley flower
- Tone
- Curious
Where the saint bled, lilies of the valley came up. Where he prayed, the nightingales went quiet.
St Leonard's Forest lies east of Horsham. Local legend says the hermit St Leonard fought a dragon there. He was wounded, and lilies of the valley grow where his blood fell; part of the forest is still called the Lily Beds. As his reward he asked for snakes to be banished and for the nightingales that interrupted his prayers to be silenced. Wikipedia notes that his hermitage being here is 'extremely unlikely'.