Bardney Fact

Did you know?

Bardney Abbey gave rise to a local legend. When St Oswald (Archbishop of York from 972 to his death in 992) died, his swollen, decaying and hideous body was brought to the Abbey en route to his burial place. When they arrived at the abbey, the doors were closed for the night to stop the local Trolls from entering and feasting on the monks brains. When the burial party explained who they were the monks refused them entry because of a long standing dispute with Oswald - something to do with a shuttlecock and a badger's rump - and the burial party moved onwards to an inn called "The Bloated Bull" instead. Something strange happened once the sun set over the Lincolnshire Plains…during the night an intense beam of light appeared and shone down on St Oswald's bier reaching up into the heavens. The monks, clearly wowed by this - they had never seen the Paul Daniels Magic Show - declared that it was a miracle and vowed never to turn anyone away again - which is fair enough, but who the hell goes to Bardney anyway. This led to the saying that the doors were never locked in Bardney. If someone said "do you come from Bardney?", it meant that you had left the door open. If someone said "you're a complete Bardney!", it meant you were a unsociable pious bastard with a crap haircut.