Tony Garofalo
St. Alkelda's Church at Giggleswick
The parish church of St. Alkelda dates mainly from the 15th century and the major restorative work that was carried out between 1890 and 1892, although some stone may have been reused from an older church that stood here before the Norman Conquest. It is located in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and adorns the picturesque village of Giggleswick (“Gikel’s [dairy] farm”), in the Craven (“Garlic place [?]”) district of North Yorkshire. In 1958 St. Alkelda’s Church was declared to be a Grade I listed building.
The church is only one of two in the country that is dedicated to St. Alkelda, the other being that at Middleham (“The middle homestead”), which is situated 25 miles north-east in a Yorkshire valley called Wensleydale (“The valley of Waendel’s woodland clearing”). According to legend, Alkelda was a Christian Saxon princess who was strangled on account of her faith by two Danish women in A.D. 800, at a time when the Danes were ravaging northern England and destroying its holy places. There is no real evidence, however, to support the story of her martyrdom. Indeed, it has even been suggested that the saint never existed at all and that the name Alkelda derives from the phrase “halig keld”, which means holy spring. Close to both Giggleswick and Middleham churches are springs that may have been a focal point for pre-Christian religious ceremonies and early Christians may well have gathered there to worship. Certainly it was not uncommon to found a church on a site that was considered to be holy in earlier pagan times. On the other hand, the skeleton of a lady dating back to Saxon times was discovered under the floor of Middleham church in 1878 and it is often argued that these bones are the mortal remains of Saint Alkelda. In the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal of 2004 Heather Edwards proposes that Saint Alkelda really did exist, but she is sceptical about her martyrdom and suggests that her real name was actually Alchild and not Alkelda. She argues that the saint was probably a canonised abbess of a Saxon monastery at Middleham who came from a wealthy, aristocratic background. The first church at Giggleswick may in fact have been established as a daughter house of that at Middleham.
St. Alkelda's Church at Giggleswick
The parish church of St. Alkelda dates mainly from the 15th century and the major restorative work that was carried out between 1890 and 1892, although some stone may have been reused from an older church that stood here before the Norman Conquest. It is located in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and adorns the picturesque village of Giggleswick (“Gikel’s [dairy] farm”), in the Craven (“Garlic place [?]”) district of North Yorkshire. In 1958 St. Alkelda’s Church was declared to be a Grade I listed building.
The church is only one of two in the country that is dedicated to St. Alkelda, the other being that at Middleham (“The middle homestead”), which is situated 25 miles north-east in a Yorkshire valley called Wensleydale (“The valley of Waendel’s woodland clearing”). According to legend, Alkelda was a Christian Saxon princess who was strangled on account of her faith by two Danish women in A.D. 800, at a time when the Danes were ravaging northern England and destroying its holy places. There is no real evidence, however, to support the story of her martyrdom. Indeed, it has even been suggested that the saint never existed at all and that the name Alkelda derives from the phrase “halig keld”, which means holy spring. Close to both Giggleswick and Middleham churches are springs that may have been a focal point for pre-Christian religious ceremonies and early Christians may well have gathered there to worship. Certainly it was not uncommon to found a church on a site that was considered to be holy in earlier pagan times. On the other hand, the skeleton of a lady dating back to Saxon times was discovered under the floor of Middleham church in 1878 and it is often argued that these bones are the mortal remains of Saint Alkelda. In the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal of 2004 Heather Edwards proposes that Saint Alkelda really did exist, but she is sceptical about her martyrdom and suggests that her real name was actually Alchild and not Alkelda. She argues that the saint was probably a canonised abbess of a Saxon monastery at Middleham who came from a wealthy, aristocratic background. The first church at Giggleswick may in fact have been established as a daughter house of that at Middleham.