Elphin of Warrington (died 679) was a Christian saint who lived in the North West of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the

7th century The 7th century is the period from 601 through 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. The spread of Islam and the Muslim conquests began with the unification of Arabia by the Islamic prophet Muhammad starting in 622 ...

, and is considered the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of the town of

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

Life

Little is known about his life, but according to tradition he was a companion of Saint Oswald at

Iona Iona (; , sometimes simply ''Ì'') is an island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there are other buildings on the island. Iona Abbey was a centre of Gaeli ...

. When Oswald became king of

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

and moved his country residence to

Makerfield Makerfield is an area in North West England. It is now split between the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, and the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside, both within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire. Plac ...

, Elphin accompanied him and Oswald built a wooden

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

for him on the site of the present parish church in

. The

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

also describes two

carucate The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax assessment. ...

s of land in the

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Newton-in-Makerfield as belonging to St Elphin. He was

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

ed in 679.

Dedications

St Elphin's Church, Warrington St Elphin's Church is the parish church of the town of Warrington, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the ...

, known for its 281-foot

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

, is dedicated to St Elphin. Also dedicated to him was

St Elphin's School St Elphins School was a boarding school for the daughters of the clergy of the Church of England. It was originally based in Warrington, Lancashire, England. It moved to Darley Dale, a rural area near Matlock, Derbyshire, in 1904, as the Warring ...

, a boarding school founded in Warrington that moved to

Darley Dale Darley Dale, formerly Darley, is a town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, with a population of 5,413. It lies north of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent an ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

; it closed in 2005.

References

{{reflist

Elphin Elphin may refer to: Places Canada * Elphin, Ontario, a hamlet in Lanark Highlands, Lanark County Ireland * Elphin, County Roscommon, a small town * Diocese of Elphin, a diocese * Roman Catholic Diocese of Elphin Scotland * Elphin, Highland, ...