Articles on our visits to Ilam can be found below but first ...

A Life of Saint Bertram

Bertram was King of Mercia sometime around the 8th century. He is said to have traveled to Ireland in order to discern his feeling of having a religious calling. However, when he arrived in Ireland he fell in love and eloped with a beautiful princess who he brought back to Mercia with him while she was pregnant with his child. They lived a nomadic life with the baby being said to have been born in the shelter of the forest near to present day Stafford. Tragically, whilst Bertram was away hunting for food for them, some wolves came upon their camp killing both his beloved wife and their infant child.

Overcome with grief, he once again turned to God. Renouncing his royal heritage he sought now a life of prayer. It is reported that many pagans from the area were converted to Christianity by the example he gave in his new life.

Without revealing his royal lineage, and presumably in disguise, Bertram approached the court of Mercia asking for, and being granted, land (near to modern day Stafford) where he could build a hermitage.

Meanwhile, a new king took the throne of Mercia but, not being a religious man, he demanded back the land on which the hermitage stood. It was decided to settle the matter by man to man combat. Bertram, obviously not wanting himself to fight being now a religious and peaceable man, prayed that someone might come forward to fight for the hermitage. Somewhat surprisingly, a dwarf came forward offering to fight but Bertram, remembering the story of David and Goliath, readily accepted the dwarf's offer; which was just as well: the hermitage kept its land!

Another story is told of Bertram that, having dedicated his life to Christ, he was sought out by the Devil who tried to tempt the saint to turn some stones into bread. Bertram, though, prayed that some bread would instead be turned to stones. In 1516 it was said that those self same stones were still to be found in the church at Bartomely, near Audley in present day Cheshire.

Being known in the area as a wise and holy man, many sought him out for spiritual advice. As with most holy men and women, though, constantly beset by people and needing to refresh his soul, he sought solitude in a cave near to what is now the village of Ilam in Staffordshire* where he lived until his death.

His tomb lies in Ilam Church. Though originally within the village the church now lies just outside the village. Jesse Watts Russell, anxious to improve his view from the hall he built there in the 1820s, had the village moved to its present location though left the Church where it was. Evidence of Saxon architecture can still be found on the south wall including a walled-up old Saxon doorway. There are also the stumps of two Saxon crosses in the churchyard and, inside the church, there is a magnificent Saxon font.

Much of the church is Norman and early English, (including the 13th century tower), but with some notable later additions. St Bertram's Chapel was built in 1618 by the Meverell family of Throwley Hall to house the saint's tomb, and this is still a regular place of pilgrimage. The Meverell family's own tomb, a fine early 17th century edifice, almost hidden by the organ, can also be found in the chapel.  The Chantry Chapel, a much more recent addition, was added by Jesse Watts Russell. This was completed in a Victorian gothic style which  fails to comlement the rest of the church. This chapel is a mausoleum to Jesse Watt Russell's father-in-law, David Pike Watts, and includes a fine marble statue depicting David Pike Watts on his deathbed.

St Bertram's well, just south of the church, is said to have been a source of fresh water ever since Saxon times. A little further on is St Bertram's bridge, for a long while the main crossing of the river until a new bridge was built further downstream in 1828.

(A life of St Bertram can be found in the 1516 edition of the Nova Legenda Angliae.)

(*The village of Ilam is in Staffordshire and not Derbyshire as most people believe and most searches on the internet would seem to indicate. Although its postal location is given as: Ashbourne, Derbyshire and it also has a Derby postcode, it is located just over the border in Staffordshire.)