Saint Edward the Confessor was King of the English from 1042 to 1066, called one of the last great Anglo-Saxon kings.
During his reign he had the predecessor to the Westminster Abbey built, which today has become the most recognizable religious building in the United Kingdom.
In the East Cloister of the Abbey today is the Chapter House, originally a meeting place for Benedictine monks and the abbot to pray, read and discuss the day’s business.
In the passage leading to the Chapter House lies a door made with wood from a single tree grown in London’s old growth Hainault Forest.
In 2005, a detailed study of the door found that tree was felled around 1032 AD!
The door itself was made in the 1050s during the reign of King Edward, and was used in Saint Peter’s Abbey that he built.
Read an excerpt below from the Westminster Abbey about Britain’s Oldest Door:
“In the 19th century the fragments of cow hide were first noted and a legend grew up that this skin was human. It was supposed that someone had been caught committing sacrilege or robbery in the church and had been flayed and his skin nailed to this door as a deterrent to others.”
Did you know Saint Edwards’s hagiography mentions a death-bed prophecy he had about the future of England accurately foretelling what would come to be in the next 1000 years?
Discover his long-lost prophecy 👉
Photo credit: Storye book, Mx. Granger via Wikimedia
