Saint Fremund was an English saint who lived in the 9th century.
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Legend has it that Fremund was a son of King Offa of Mercia. However he gave up his royal life to become a hermit and sailing with twelve companions from Caerleon-on-Usk, eventually landed on an island called "llefaye" (sometimes identified with Lundy[1]) where they established a hermitage. Meanwhile Vikings invaded Mercia following their victory in East Anglia which had resulted in the martyrdom of King Edmund. The Mercian people were without a leader, King Offa having died, so a group went in search of their lost prince. Finding him on the island, they led him back home as their war leader. A great battle ensued at Radford Semele in which Fremund was completely victorious. However as Fremund knelt in prayer of thanksgiving one of his own men envious of his success struck off his head. His corpse stood up, picked up his head and walked away; eventually stopping somewhere between Harbury and Whitton (Whitnash?), a miraculous well sprung up at his feet, in the water of which he washed his head then lay down and died.
After his death Fremund's body was taken to Offchurch in Warwickshire where his tomb became a place of pilgrimage for those seeking healing. In about AD 931 his remains were taken to Cropredy in Oxfordshire. In about 1207-1210 some of his relics were removed from Cropredy to a new shrine at Dunstable Priory in Bedfordshire, but his shrine at Cropredy continued to be venerated until early in the 16th century.[2] His shrines at both Cropredy and Dunstable were destroyed in the 1540s during the English Reformation.
St. Fremund's feast day in May continued to be celebrated as a Fair in Dunstable until early in the 20th century.[1] A parish church of St. Fremund the Martyr was built in 1967-68 to serve a new housing estate in Dunstable (grid reference TL22052375).[3]