Who Was St Swithin?

Well firstly you will find that he is referred to as St Swithun as well as St Swithin. Regardless of which is correct he was born in Wessex in 800 and became Bishop of Winchester in 852 a post he held until his death in 862.

We celebrate St Swithin's day on the 15th of July and folklore has it that if it rains on this day it will continue to do so for 40 days and 40 nights (Allegedly the Met Office has recorded many a wet St Swithin's day which has been followed by numerous days of glorious sunshine!). The tale behind the folklore is that St Swithin was buried in an outside grave at his own request 'So that sweet rain from heaven can fall upon my grave'. All was going well until 11 years later one of the monks at Winchester decided it would be a good idea to move the remains to an inside tomb at which point the heavens opened and the move was held up for forty days and nights until the rains subsided, which was on the 15th of July 971. Not only has folklore be created from this event but so has the following poem: -

 

St Swithun's day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St Swithun's day if thou be fair
For forty days 'twill rain na mair

 

That is unless you are from Buckinghamshire and then for some strange know only to you, you have a different version: -
 

If on St Swithun's day it really pours
You're better off to stay indoors.

 

Needless to say, in times of drought St Swithun is the one that we direct our prayers to.

As you will note there are no commercial advantages to St Swithin's day ... all though we do have a nice line in umbrella's! Hope you enjoyed the read - The Team @ Gifts2theDoor