My illustration above depicts St Urith (Latin Heiritha; possibly Welsh Iwerydd, Iwarith, Ewrith). She was born at East Stowford, Devon (near Barnstaple) and perhaps martyred during the 8th century AD. Her feast day is 8th July and her shrine was located in St Hieritha’s Church, Chittlehampton, Devon.
Not much is know about her and the fullest known account is found in The Glastonbury Commonplace Book at Trinity College, Cambridge. The manuscript contains a Latin rhyming poem about her which the medieval scholar (and future ghost story writer) M. R. James published a transcription in 1902.
Urith was killed by local female haymakers at the instigation of a jealous pagan stepmother. She was beheaded by a scythe and a miraculous spring immediately sprang up where she fell along with flowers sprouting from her drops of blood hitting the ground (possibly scarlet pimpernels). Urith was buried near the site of her death and a church was later built above her grave.
St Urith’s holy well still exists and is found in eastern part of Chittlehampton, but is locally known as Tiddy Well, St Ura’s or St Teara’s Well. Medieval pilgrims suffering from eye diseases came to anoint themselves with the holy water.
Urith was buried in Chittlehampton Church and her shrine was a noted place of pilgrimage providing good revenues to the church’s coffers. Her cult was suppressed during the Reformation (1540) that involved the destruction of her shrine and statue. The position of her chapel, and shrine where her body is thought to buried, is located in a small chamber off the north transept, adjoining the chancel.
St Urith on the Chittlehampton pulpit (left) and newer statue outside (right)
The late 14th-century stone pulpit in the church features Urith holding a martyr’s palm and the foundation stone of the church. A present-day statue was placed in a niche high up on the exterior of the church tower and has her holding a scythe along with her chopped off head. St Urith is set beside St Sidwell holding her chopped off head on the 15th-century rood screen at Hennock Church, Devon – both are carrying scythes. St Urith shares the archetypal story of beheading with the other cephalophorus female saints, including St Sidwell of Devon and St Juthwara of Dorset.
References
Chanter, J. F. “St Urith of Chittlehampon: A Study in an Obscure Devon Saint”, Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, July 1914, 290–308.
St Urith of Chittlehampton [M. R. James connection]
Squeaking Cat 