A TOWN’S history group is hoping to recreate the event that established it as a centre for pilgrims, with the help of 12 oxen.
The Waltham Abbey Historical Society wants to re-enact the event that brought the Holy Cross to the town while it was still under the rule of the Danish King Canute.
According to legend, Tovi the Dane, who owned the land around Waltham Abbey and was a close friend of the king, loaded the cross onto a cart pulled by oxen at the village of Montacute in Somerset.
Historical society member Clive Simpson said: “A list of holy place names was called out to the oxen, but they did not move.
“Finally, Tovi remembered he had a little church in Waltham in Essex.
“At the call ‘Waltham’, the oxen moved as if pushed by the cross and continued until they reached Waltham on September 14 1035.
“Eventually Waltham became Waltham Abbey, which prospered as an important holy centre until Henry VIII destroyed the Abbey.”
The society plans to start an annual Holy Cross Day each September 14, recreating the cross’ journey across the River Lea and into the Abbey, with residents playing the 66 Saxons who came across in 1035.
Once it arrived in the town, the cross would have hung in the second church built in the town, above the altar, where the east end of the present church now stands.
The Holy Cross, which was a life-size replica crucifix, made the abbey a popular destination for pilgrims and the fourth church built in the town in about 1090 was designed with a walkway for visitors to make their way up one side and down the other.
King Harold was thought to have prayed under the cross before he led his troops to the Battle of Hastings, where it was the battle cry.
It did not bring the king much protection, though, and after he was killed there, his body was brought back to the abbey for burial.
It is thought the original Holy Cross is still buried somewhere near the abbey, possibly in the Sun Street car park.
Peter Huggins, another member of the historical society, said: “Henry VIII remained a Catholic so would not have sanctioned its destruction.
“But in 1536, there was the action of the Lower House of the Convocation of Canerbury, listing the ‘errors and abuses’ of the Catholic Church.
“This could well have happened to the Holy Cross, to mirror the mutilation of the Waltham Madonna and its burial in the ditch of the northern Sun Street car park.”
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