Saint Winnold
Saint Winnold has long been associated
with this part of North West Norfolk. A Benedictine Priory named after him was established
nearby at Wereham in 1199. For many years a horse fair was held in Downham Market
on the feast day of Saint Winnold. Today the Town Council still celebrate Saint
Winnold with an annual fair and civic breakfast in the town hall every March.
 It is generally held that Saint Winnold is the same person as Saint Winwaloe or
Saint Winnol, all being different spellings of the same name of the saint whose
feast day is on 3rd March. Winnold was a Breton abbot. He was trained by Saint Budoc
on an island called “Laurea”, he became a hermit on the island of Tibidy, off the
Breton coast, and practised the usual Celtic mortifications of reciting the whole
of the psalter daily with his arms outstretched and wearing clothes of goat hair.
His life was not recorded in writing until the 9th century. Some of his relics,
when his monastery and resting place were destroyed by the Vikings in 914, were
taken to Mount Blandin (Ghent), others to Chateau-du-Loir and thence to Montreuil-sur-Mer.
His widespread cult in England was due to two reasons: foundations in Cornwall from
his monastery, and the diffusion of his saintly relics. The churches of Landewednack
and Gunwalloe (both on the Lizard peninsula) are dedicated to him, while his name
occurs in English litanies of the 10th and 11th centuries. Exeter, Glastonbury,
Abingdon and Waltham all claimed relics of Saint Winnold, and his name occurs frequently
in English calendars of the same period. It was likely that this was due to Saint
Dunstan’s exile at Mont-Blandin and to later gifts of relics from the same source
to Leofric, bishop of Exeter. Winnold was also venerated in the eastern counties
of England. His feast was celebrated at Norwich where a street is named after him
(recording the dedication of a church there) and his name occurs in a local verse
about the weather, naming the saints of the first three days of March:
First comes David, then comes Chad,
Then comes Winnol, roaring like mad.
In Christian art, Saint Winnold is usually represented with a bell, at whose sound
fishes would follow him. His ancient feast day is 3rd March and his translation
28th April.
In March 2007 Bishop Michael Evans
blessed the town and market as a part of the Saint Winnold's Fair celebrations.
Here he is shown talking with Downham Market Salvation Army Captin Martin Whybrow
after the Civic Breakfast in the Town Hall.
Photo: Cllr. Pat Roberts.
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