Arilda of Oldbury

Who is Arilda of Oldbury?

Saint Arilda a little-known female saint from Oldbury-on-Severn in the English county of Gloucestershire. She probably lived in the 5th or 6th century and may have been of either Anglo-Saxon or Welsh origin.

Arilda was a virgin martyr who, according to John Leland, was slain by a Lad named Municus when she refused to lie with him.

Two churches in Gloucestershire are dedicated to Arilda, one at Oldbury-on-Severn near her traditional home, a second at Oldbury-on-the-Hill. Both places were called 'Aldberie' at the time of the Domesday Book, suggesting that their names may be derived from the saint.

There was a shrine to Arilda at St Peter's Abbey, Gloucester, which is now Gloucester Cathedral, but it was destroyed after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.