Possible site of Holywell Nunnery / St Osyth's Nunnery or chapel (EHER 46047)

Tradition places the site of St Osyth's Nunnery or chapel in Nun’s Wood.

The legend of the foundation of St Osyth dates its origins to the seventh century. The details vary, but the basic story is that Osyth was a princess who married the King of the East Saxons, Sighere. She had previously taken a vow of perpetual chastity as a result of which her marriage was not consummated, although an alternative version contradicts this and makes her and Sighere the parents of Offa. Sighere granted her a nunnery at Cicc (now St Osyth), where she retired to as abbess. She was murdered by a raiding party of ‘Danes’ in 653, and died on the doorstep of her own chapel. Tradition places the site of this chapel in Nun’s Wood, approximately a kilometre to the north-west of the town. What happened to the nunnery after her death is not clear. Rippon (1996) has suggested that St Osyth may have been the site of a minster church. The Bishop of London owned land in St Osyth prior to 1066, which may derive from Sighere’s original grant to the Church, but there is no mention of any priest or religious community being present in the Domesday Book. Only a few Saxon finds have been recovered from the town, but these do indicate activity during the eighth to the tenth centuries, and the Domesday Book (<3>) shows that the area supported quite a thriving community in the first half of the eleventh century. <1> Information from NRHE Ositha daughter of Frithwald (first Christian King of the East Saxons) is alleged to have founded a nunnery at Chich (now St. Osyth). Ositha, later canonised St Osyth, was martyred here by Viking raiders in 653 AD. and legend relates to a holy well springing from the site of her execution. The spring was later piped by monks but this piping has since been removed for ballasting a boat. (Possible connection with Conduit House TM 11 NW 5, in Nun's Wood). <2> <3> <4>