54 S. MODWEN AND "THE DEVILL OF DRAKELOWE." 



which in English is called Calvecliffe,"* they built there a church 

 consecrated to God and S. Andrew, which place is called Andresey 

 because it is a small island. It was desert at that time, and in it 

 St. Modwen and Lazar and Athea dwelt seven years, but Ede and 

 Osidf abode in the former place in the Forest of Arderne aforesaid. 

 And after they returned from Rome, they built a church on 

 the other side of the water, at the foot of Mount Calvus, in 

 honour of S. Peter and S. Paul, and God wrought through 

 them many miracles near the aforesaid river. And after 

 the Abbess had blessed them, she returned to Ireland ; but Athea 

 dwelt in Andersey, as the holy Modwen had appointed, for 

 she was recognised as Abbess. Accordingly she requested that 

 she might remain with them In the great and long wood of 

 Arderne she constructed three churches ; the fourth was in 

 a certain island situated in the River of Trent, which flows near 

 to Mount Calvus." 



Hence we learn that S. Modwen made her last settlement on 

 Andersey. The delightfully quaint fragments of the life of St. 

 Modwen discovered by the Hon. Mrs. Bulkeley Owen confirm 

 the foregoing statements so closely as to lead to the inference 

 that the writer drew his information from Geoffry's biography. 



"And whan she retourned fro Rome, she came to England 

 to a place on y*" south syde of Scaleclyffe Hill called Calve Hill, 

 and there she bylded a churche in the morshy water of Trent 

 There she bylded a chappell in the ylande of Saynt Andrewe, 

 and therefore y*" sayd yland is called Andronsey at this day, y' is 

 to saye, Andrewes yle. Here she lyved vii. yeres reclused as an 

 ancresse." 



I cannot omit the following story from the same source, 

 because it introduces another kindred spirit — the Hermit 

 of Bredon, residing in the same locality, and a personal friend 

 of S. Modwen's : — 



*Now called Scalpcliff, on the east side of the Trent exactly opposite 

 Andersey and overlooking the town of Burton. 



t Obviously the Edith and Osyth of the former legend. 



