Lastingham

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Lastingham village

Lastingham is a village which lies in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It was the home of the early missionaries to the Saxons, such as St. Cedd and his brother, St. Chad.

1 History
2 Notable Citizens
3 Footnotes
4 External Links

[edit] History

There is reason to believe that the original name for Lastingham was Læstingau. Læstingau first appears in history when King Ethelwald of Deira (651-c.655) founded a monastery for his own burial. Bede attributes the initiative to Ethelwald's chaplain Caelin, a brother of Cedd, Chad and Cynibil. Bede records that Cedd and Cynibil purified the site of its former wickedness by means of a strict fast. It is possible that this indicates the existence of an earlier pagan cult centre. Cedd ruled the monastery as the first abbot until his death, combining this position with that of missionary bishop to the East Saxons. In 664, shortly after the Synod of Whitby, in which he was a key participant, St. Cedd died of the plague at Læstingau, and was buried in the monastery. Bede records that a party of monks from Essex came to mourn him and were all wiped out by the plague. His brother St. Chad took his place as abbot. The crypt of the present parish church remains a focus for veneration of Cedd.

Stone cross at Lastingham, part of the millennium commemorations

Knowledge of following events is scarce. It is known however that the monastery was destroyed by the Danes in 870, and most likely remained that way until 1078. The monastery was rebuilt by Stephen, abbot of Whitby and a band of monks he brought with him, who had left Whitby due to a disagreement with William de Percy, who was lord of Whitby at the time.

They received support from the king and Berenger de Todeni in the means of one carucate of land in Lastingham, six carucates at Spaunton, and other lands in Kirkby etc. They only remained for four years however, after which they moved to York, founded St. Mary's Abbey to which they annexed the lands of the monastery at Lastingham.^[1]