WHITECHURCH CANONICORUM. 63 



" In A.D. 9 1 9-92 1 there was a great influx of Bretons flying their 

 country under their chief Matuedoi who came to England, as the 

 Chronicle of Nantes says, ' with a great number of Britons,' and 

 they brought with them the bodies of their saints. By this 

 means a large number of the relics of old Welsh and Breton 

 saints arrived in England. Athelstan, although not yet King, 

 received the refugees kindly and planted them, there is reason to 

 believe, in Cornwall and Wessex, of which Dorset was a part. 

 At Wareham, in Dorset, have been found inscribed stones that 

 belong to these settlers. Athelstan placed the relics in various 

 churches, and it is quite conceivable that he gave those of 

 Gwen, or Candida, to Whitechurch which his grandfather had 

 founded. 



"Now it is remarkable that nowhere in Brittany is it held 

 that her relics were preserved ; consequently it is not at all 

 improbable that when the migration took place to England, the 

 refugees carried with them the bones of the mother of some of 

 their greatest saints, S. Cadfan, S. Winwaloe, S. Gwenthenoc, 

 and S. James. It is possible that they conveyed those of Gwen, 

 the ' three-breasted,' to England, and that Athelstan gave them 

 to Whitechurch, partly influenced by the name it bore. If 

 that be the case, then Whitechurch may congratulate itself in 

 possessing the remains of a notable mother of saints. Her son, 

 S. Winwaloe had, and has still, churches dedicated to him in 

 Cornwall, Gunwalloe, Tresmere, etc., and in Devon, that of 

 Portlemouth. 



'* There are several Candidas in Martyrologies, but none of 

 these can be the S. Candida of Whitechurch. S. Candida, the 

 martyr of Carthage, was a virgin, but both the history of Gwen 

 and the legend of S. Blanche represent her as a married woman, 

 and do not admit of her having been a martyr. It is possible 

 enough that the emblems of a ship, a ' celt,' and an axe 

 represented on the tower of Whitechurch may have reference 

 to her legend, the axe that cut off her ringers, the ship in 

 which she crossed the sea, and the 'celt' to symbolise the 

 pirates." 



