Martyred c.866. Saint Fremund is sometimes depicted as a king, but it
is more likely that he was a noble man's son, although he may have been
related to St.Edmund, King of East Anglia. He was born in Warwickshire
near Offchurch but at quite an early age he left home to lead a solitary
life as a hermit on an island called Ylefagel, which may be Steep Holm
or Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel. At that time the English were
constantly under threat from invasions by the Danes, and it seems that
Fremund felt obliged to leave his hermitage to take up arms in defence
of the Christian religion and the freedom of his people.
He died in battle at Harbury not far from his home, and it was believed
that an apostate kinsman by the name of Oswi was responsible for his
death, having allied himself to the heathen Danes in order to further
his ambitions. Fremund's body was taken to Offchurch for burial, and the
fact that the church was founded by King Offa may have been the reason
that Fremund has been described as his son.
The Life by William of Ramsey and a later one by the monk John Lydgate
of Burry say that his tomb was visited by many pilgrims in search of
healing and that in 931 his relics were translated to Cropredy in
Oxfordshire. Certainly there was a shrine containing his relics there in
the Middle Ages, and there is a meadow by the River Cherwell called
Freeman's Holm. Richard, Prior of the new foundation at Dunstable, was
visitor of the Lincoln Diocese in 1206 and found many pilgrims coming to
the little church.
Dunstable was a Priory of Austin Canons founded by Henry I late in the
twelfth century at the spot where Watling Street crosses the prehistoric
Icknield Way. Presumably relics were needed for this church, and in 1210
at least some of St.Fremund's remains were taken to Dunstable and an
altar was dedicated to him.
The shrine was destroyed at the dissolution, but the magnificent nave
and Norman doorway remain in what is now the parish church of St. Peter
(
Bowen,
Farmer,
Hole,
Stanton).