Saxon Christians

Marie Paterson discovered this historical and spiritual structure many years ago and it continues to affect her.

In Essex, on the northern shore of the Dengie Hundred, overlooking the mouth of the Blackwater estuary, proudly stands the lonely Saxon chapel of St Peter’s-on-the-Wall. Erected on the site of the Roman Fort, Ythancester, and built with its abandoned masonry, St Peter’s is an enduring reminder of the Christianity brought to the East Saxons from Holy Island by St Cedd in the seventh century AD. St Cedd, one of the Northumbrian monks, was sent to Christianise the people of this inhospitable shore and was made Bishop of the East Saxons. Tradition has it that his church was built around 654...