Goodmanham

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Map sources for Goodmanham at grid reference SE889431

Goodmanham alias Godmundin Gaham, is a small village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, approximately 2 miles to the north-east of Market Weighton. It was a parish in the wapentake of Harthill.

The village is built in a favourable position on a south facing slope of the Yorkshire Wolds between two streams. It has a copious supply of water from numerous springs and naturally occurring limestone for building. The land is extraordinarily fertile in this region and people have lived here since prehistoric times.

The earliest traces of settlement are from the stone age. There are many ancient burial sites. The boundaries of the village lie along the lines of ancient earthworks and these are evidence that it was a prehistoric place of worship. Near the western boundary of the village lies one of the most ancient roads of Britain, later adopted by the Romans. Settlement at this time is indicated by finds of Samian ware and coins of the period. Later in Saxon times, after the recall of the Roman legions, the village reached a position of great importance and fame. It became the site of the high shrine of Northumbria, a great temple of Woden, the father of the gods. The dramatic overthrow of this temple in 627 A.D. by the high priest Coifi upon the conversion of King Edwin of Northumbria is related by St.Bede in his History of the English Speaking Peoples (Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum).

"I have known long since" [Coifi] said, "that there is nothing in this religion that we have professed"..... the more I sought the truth of it the less I found.. this can give us life salvation and eternal happiness...I advise that we burn the useless sanctuary- and who better than myself as an example?" ^[1]

So saying, he borrowed a war stallion and a war axe, both of which were forbidden to him as a priest. He galloped to the temple and flung the weapon into the holy place. Seeing that no ill befell him the company that followed him demolished the shrine and burned it to the ground.

It is often said that Coifi rode from Edwin's council in York to destroy the temple at Goodmanham; a distance of around 20 miles. Local tradition has it that the ride was from the king's summer camp at Londsborugh which is two miles from Goodmanham.

Although Goodmanham is very near to York, the capital of Viking England, we have no information about Goodmanham from that period. It is next found as a listing in the Domesday book produced under William the Conqueror at the time of the Norman conquest. A few names of resident farmers are given: Colgri, Orm, Norman, William de Coleville. These names show the presence of Normans now occupying the land.

The church of All Hallows now stands on or near the site of the original pagan temple. This church dates from around 1130 A.D. and replaces an earlier one of wooden construction built in the Saxon period. A tumulus, located to the south west of the town, is also supposed to contain ruins. One of the many sacred wells in Britain dedicated to St. Helen is located nearby. [1]

[edit] References

^ Arthur Mee's 1000 Heroes

Langdale's Yorkshire Dictionary (1822)
Baine's Directory of the County of York (1823)
"Goodmanham Church and Village" by the Rev J.S. Purvis Rector Of Goodmanham (c1945)
Whelan E. & Taylor, I., Yorkshire Holy Wells and Sacred Springs, Northern Lights: Dunnington 1989