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Lyr Req: Eddi's Service (...priest of St Wilfred)

16 Dec 01 - 12:53 PM (#611015)
Subject: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: Hawker

Anyone got the words to the poem that starts

Eddie the Priest of St Wilfred's
In his chapel at Manhood end
Ordered a midnight service
For thise that cared to attend

can't remember the rest, but i'd love a copy of it if anyone can oblige!
Thanks,
Lucy.

16 Dec 01 - 01:16 PM (#611034)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: catspaw49

Okay.......ya' got it.

CLICK HERE

Spaw

16 Dec 01 - 01:19 PM (#611035)
Subject: Lyr Add: EDDI'S SERVICE (Rudyard Kipling)
From: Dani

Hoo BOY!

I've been waiting my whole life for this!! It is my favorite Christmas reading, and people I love have suffered through a reading, sometimes several, each year for many years. Damn philistines.

You made my day!


EDDI'S SERVICE
(A. D. 687)
(Rudyard Kipling)

Eddi, priest of St. Wilfrid
In his chapel at Manhood End,
Ordered a midnight service
For such as cared to attend.

But the Saxons were keeping Christmas,
And the night was stormy as well.
Nobody came to service,
Though Eddi rang the bell.

“Wicked weather for walking,"
Said Eddi of Manhood End.
"But I must go on with the service
For such as care to attend."

The altar-lamps were lighted,—
An old marsh-donkey came,
Bold as a guest invited,
And stared at the guttering flame.

The storm beat on at the windows,
The water splashed on the floor,
And a wet, yoke-weary bullock
Pushed in through the open door.

"How do I know what is greatest,
How do I know what is least?
That is My Father's business,"
Said Eddi, Wilfrid's priest.

"But—three are gathered together—
Listen to me and attend.
I bring good news, my brethren!"
Said Eddi of Manhood End.

And he told the Ox of a Manger
And a Stall in Bethlehem,
And he spoke to the Ass of a Rider,
That rode to Jerusalem.

They steamed and dripped in the chancel,
They listened and never stirred,
While, just as though they were Bishops,
Eddi preached them The Word,

Till the gale blew off on the marshes
And the windows showed the day,
And the Ox and the Ass together
Wheeled and clattered away.

And when the Saxons mocked him,
Said Eddi of Manhood End,
"I dare not shut His chapel
On such as care to attend."


This I discovered in a beautiful leather-bound, gold-stamped copy of "Songs from Books" by Rudyard Kipling that is nearly a hundred years old. It is one of those treasures I keep in sight in order to save when the proverbial house burns down.

Dani

16 Dec 01 - 01:20 PM (#611037)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: catspaw49

Sorry Dani.....But I think there are a feew more verses according to the site I linked.

Spaw

17 Dec 01 - 07:50 PM (#612009)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: GUEST,Hawker

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Gratefully yours,
Lucy

18 Dec 01 - 06:57 PM (#612652)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: Gareth

I must confess this is a favourite of mine too, just as a matter of interst I looked up Manhood End ( and varients) in the office copy of the Ordanance Survey Gazetteer.

REgret no luck but I suspect this is Kipling describing a flint Church on the Pevancy Levels, that flat area of Marsh twixt the South Downs, and the English Channel - any other thoughts here. I think Dungeness and the Romney Marsh is out as it had not really returned from the Sea in the Circa 1000's.

Gareth - in Historical Enquiry Mood.

So watch the wall my darling,
While the Gentlemen ride by,

18 Dec 01 - 07:55 PM (#612702)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: Snuffy

Pevensey?

19 Dec 01 - 02:19 PM (#613168)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: Gareth

OK Snuffy - Yes - Pevensey!

19 Dec 01 - 06:30 PM (#613292)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: Penny S.

From what I know of the conversion of Sussex, I think that Eddi was somewhere near Selsey, in the west of the county, near Chichester and Bosham. I have always thought this, since I read it in Puck or Rewards, I think, but I do not know why. Perhaps rereading when I have a moment will reveal the reason.

Penny

14 Nov 18 - 04:01 PM (#3961662)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: GUEST

The Manhood Peninsula is the area south of Chichester which includes the village of Selsey. St Wilfred brought Christianity to the South Saxons and there is a very sweet little church a little north of Selsey that is the chancel of the parish church, moved to Selsey proper in Victorian times, that is now called St Wilfred’s. The cathedral was there until William the Conqueror decreed that all cathedrals must be in in cities, when it was removed to Chichester!

16 Nov 18 - 04:13 PM (#3961992)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: leeneia

Google Maps shows "Manhood Lane, Sidlesham, Chichester, UK", so the name persists to the present day. And yes, there's a promontory to the south of it. It is on the southern coast of England, midway between Brighton and Bournemouth.

Thanks for bringing up this charming poem.

16 Nov 18 - 05:08 PM (#3962000)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Eddie The Priest Of St Wilfred's
From: DaveRo

Peter Bellamy sang this on Merlin's Isle of Gramarye