Alkelda
Deceased Person
– 0800
Who was Alkelda?
Saint Alkelda, also spelt Alcelda or Alchhild, was an Anglo-Saxon princess of whom almost nothing is known and whose existence has been questioned.
The legend is that she was an Anglo-Saxon princess, and probably also a nun, who was strangled by pagan Viking women during Danish raids of about 800 at Middleham in Yorkshire. She is patron of the church Giggleswick, and also of that of Middleham,the church there having a holy well, but of no others. She may have also been an abbess of a monastery at Middleham.
This area is known for its many springs, some very near the sites of these churches, and there is no documentary reference to this saint until the late Middle Ages, so it has been surmised that the name Alkelda is in fact simply a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon haligkelda, meaning healing spring.
However, this has be contested, with claims she may have actually been Icelandic, from Ölkelda Iceland and her reputation bought to north England by Vikings caused her to be associated with Holy springs, such as Giggleswick.
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