Just over the Norfolk border & into Lincolnshire lies Crowland Abbey which was founded in the early 8th century. The abbey left standing today is not the first to be ruined but actually the fourth & last. The current fell victim to the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII in 1539. Before this two fires, a Viking raid & an earthquake all took their toll on this ancient site. When Crowland was still an island in Anglo Saxon times St Guthlac (a Christian hermit) arrived. He decided to set up a hermitage here but upon arrival claimed to encounter a troop of demons. After failed attempts to poison him with milk of the poppy, he rid the island of dark forces & set up his monastery. However Guthlac's legacy was destroyed by the Danes in 866. It was then twice re-founded & twice gutted by fire. Firstly rebuilt by King Eldred before a fire in 1091 & then 20 years later by Abbot Joffrid before fire struck again. The abbey was resurrected once more by Abbott Richard in 1170, surviving until 1539. In c870 Theodore was abbot here but while praying at the altar he was brutally murdered by Viking raiders before the abbey was ransacked. Some time later the skull believed to be that of St Theodore was found in the grounds. The skull has a sword cut above the eye socket believed to be remnants of the fatal wound. The skull miraculously survived the reformation & an attack on the abbey by Oliver Cromwell. However in 1982 during renovation of the site the skull mysteriously disappeared, only to reappear again 17 years later in 1999. The skull was eventually returned with a note attached, "as a callow youth I stole this. I return it as a responsible adult”. Folklore has since cast aspersions questioning whether the thief was in fact cursed by the ancient relic which led to its eventual return? The British Museum has since confirmed the skull is very old & could well date from the time of the Viking raids. With the blade mark comparable to the wound inflicted to Theodore in the 9th century. Nearby Trinity Bridge was built in 1360-90 by the Benedictine brethren of Crowland Abbey. It once went over tributaries of the River Nene & River Welland but now stands high & dry near the market place after the rivers were re-routed. The seated figure on the bridge is believed to be that of Christ or King Ethelbald & was taken from the western front of the abbey.
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