| Urswick- a Celtic monastery?
‘The inscribed stones built into the church
fabric at Urswick strongly suggest a late or sub Roman church foundation-the
evidence from the Urswick 1 Cross and the site’s inner precinct
layout emphasise the longevity of the site’s association with
Irish monasticism’ It is widely believed that St.Ninian (360-432) introduced monasticism into Britain having visited St.Martin of Tours. St.Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, spent time at Ninian’s monastry studying the history and customs of monastic life. Legend tends to place Patrick’s birth place on the west coast of what is now Cumbria and a church is dedicated to him at Heysham, on the other side of Morecambe Bay, a starting point for the ancient ‘cross-sands’ route. To ‘whet the appetite’ further the writings
of a 12th century monk at Furness Abbey recorded a mission led by
Bishop Kentigern from Scotland, down the west coast of Furness and
across the Bay and on to Lancaster.
• Could it be the same Luigni who had been Columba’s steersman on Iona? We know that he became the abbot of a large monastery during his later years? • Could Low Furness then be Luigni’s mystical ‘Isle of Elen’ (God’s trysting place) where his monastery thrived? • What might we discover about Urswick’s links with Iona and with the rest of the Celtic Church in Britain and Ireland during the early years of Christian progress in this country? An exciting journey awaits! FEATURE:
Urswick origins (PDF) -
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‘There
are many indicators in the limestone outcrop and drumlin-dominated
landscape around Great and Little Urswick of the outer boundaries
and core enclosure (inner precinct) of a large monastic complex’
If,
as Steve Dickinson suggests in his recent analysis of the Urswick
Cross fragment, the carved figures are in fact Luigni
and Archbishop Theodore then we have an accurate
date for a significant meeting in the history of the Church and
more evidence of the importance of the location. It also poses a
further mystery: 