The Romsey Nuns

Another legend is that of the Romsey nuns, who, on fleeing from the Danes, came to Wherwell Abbey, but before reaching there they got lost in the woods and many of them died from exposure and starvation.

Tradition says they sat down in despair and began to reproach the Almighty, and that when they died their souls were transformed into wild cats which used to roam in the woods.

 

 

The Mizmaze

The small field adjacent to the Churchyard on the west side, is so described by the Rev R H Clutterbuck in 1898. There is a ritual significance in mazes, both as protection against the supernatural and as a path which the dead must follow on their way to the world of spirits. In medieval times certain mazes were constructed under ecclesiastical patronage, formed in tiles at the place of worship, or built in or near churchyards.

This maze could have been in existence at the time of Wherwell Abbey, when the same Church would serve both nuns and villagers. This story presumes an access (even if difficult) for the villagers to the Church from the west, and contrasts with the memorandum of Rev Richard King of August 1771.

 

 

Healing Nuns

The Churchyard and nearby fields are white with snowdrops in the early spring. Monasteries used these bulbs as medicaments in the middle ages. It is quite possible that the nuns cultivated them in their herb gardens, the destruction of which now results in a delight to the eye every February.

 

 

Corpse Lights

Seen by some in Wherwell Churchyard. Jeanne Nolder who produced these notes in 1980, suggests they be accounted for by the lights reflected from glow-worms in the mists rising from the water meadows. (Glow-worms can still be seen of a mild midsummer night in Wherwell gardens and on the neighbouring Chilbolton Common)

 

 

Errant Gravestones

The rebuilding of the Church in 1856-58 caused many grave and other stones to be removed. Some were replaced close together in the Churchyard, others incorporated in the new Church or the surrounding walls. One dated about 1747 forms a small landing at the top of the belfry steps.

Other stones, broken by accident perhaps, are buried by the builder behind May Cottage, as well as placing a stone figure probably from the old Church, in the centre of the wall facing on to Fullerton road. These stones came to light when a trench was dug for main drainage in 1962 and made a firm foundation for the pipes in the boggy ground.