| Repton | |
|---|---|
  Repton Location withinDerbyshire | |
| Population | 2,707 (2001 census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SK3026 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Derby |
| Postcode district | DE65 |
| Dialling code | 01283 |
| Police | Derbyshire |
| Fire | Derbyshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Repton Village Website |
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Repton is a village andcivil parish in theSouth Derbyshire district ofDerbyshire, England, located on the edge of theRiver Trent floodplain, about 5 miles (8 km) north ofSwadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 census was 2,707, increasing to 2,867 at the 2011 census.[2] Repton is close to the county boundary with neighbouringStaffordshire and about 5 miles (8 km) northeast ofBurton upon Trent.
The village is noted forSt Wystan's Church, forRepton School, for the Anglo-SaxonRepton Abbey and for the medievalRepton Priory.
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Christianity was reintroduced to the Midlands at Repton, where some of theMercian royal family underPeada were baptised in AD 653.[3] Soon a doubleabbey under anabbess was built.
In 669St Chad, theBishop of Mercia, translated hissee from Repton toLichfield.[4]Offa, King of Mercia, seemed to resent his own bishops paying allegiance to theArchbishop of Canterbury in Kent who, while under Offa's control, was not of his own kingdom of Mercia.[citation needed] Offa therefore created his ownArchdiocese of Lichfield, which presided over all the bishops from theHumber to theThames. Repton was thus the forebear of the archdiocese of Lichfield, a third archdiocese of the English church: Lichfield, the other two being Canterbury and York. This lasted for only 16 years, however, before Mercia returned to being under the Archbishopric of Canterbury.
At the centre of the village is theChurch of England parish church dedicated toWystan (or Wigstan) of Mercia.[5]
TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle also reports that 873–874 theGreat Heathen Army overwintered at Repton. The first indications of Viking presence at Repton were discovered by accident in the late 17th century by Thomas Walker who found a pit of bones in the vicarage garden. A hogback tombstone was discovered sometime during 1801–1802 in the western part of the churchyard. An extensive programme of archaeological excavations, led by Martin Biddle and his wife, Birthe, that took place between 1974 and 1988 led the Biddles to identify the Viking camp with a D-shaped earthwork that they identified on a bluff, overlooking an arm of the River Trent. In more recent times the view that the entire Viking army spent the winter in this small (0.4 ha.) D-shaped enclosure has been challenged.[6]
A new set of excavations led by Cat Jarman and Mark Horton began in 2015 with a geophysical survey of the vicarage conducted which revealed new structures.[7] During the 2016–2017 excavations, ground-penetrating radar surveys revealed more possible structures that were subsequently excavated and proved to be grave deposits. These contained a number of pits and stone features such as broken quern stones and a fragment of a carved sandstone cross shaft.[8]
The Biddles also re-opened a mound containing a mass grave containing the remains of at least 264 individuals which they also believed to be associated with the Viking army. The bones were disarticulated and mostly jumbled together. Forensic study revealed that the individuals ranged in age from their late teens to about forty, 80% were male where sex could be determined. Five associatedpennies fit well with the overwintering date of 873–874 and this date was later confirmed by a reassessment of the radiocarbon dates.[9][10]
An early 18th century account describes how, in the last quarter of the 17th century, Thomas Walker, a workman looking for stone, opened the mound and found the skeleton of a "nine foot tall" man in a stone coffin in the remains of a building. According to the account, human bones had been neatly stacked around the coffin.[11]
The church is notable for itsAnglo-Saxoncrypt, which was built in the 8th century AD[12] as amausoleum for the Mercian royal family. Wystan, or Wigstan, was a prince of Mercia who was murdered by his guardian in 849,[5] in the reign ofWiglaf. His remains were buried in the crypt at Repton and miracles were ascribed to them. Repton proceeded to become a place ofpilgrimage; Wigstan was later canonised and became thepatron saint of the church.
At the north edge of the village is St Wystan's Church, an Anglo-Saxon church dedicated to the Anglo-Saxon SaintWystan (or Wigstan) and designated byEnglish Heritage as a Grade Ilisted building.[13] The 8th-century crypt beneath the church was the original burial place ofSaint Wigstan, as well as his grandfather,King Wiglaf of Mercia. Also buried there isKing Æthelbald of Mercia, under whose reign the building was first constructed, and for whom it was first converted to amausoleum. Upon the burial of St Wigstan, the crypt became a shrine and place of pilgrimage.[14]
It has been suggested that the crypt at Repton later influenced the design of both the spiral-columned shrine ofEdward the Confessor and theCosmati Coronation Pavement inWestminster Abbey, both commissioned byHenry III, based on close correspondence of their dimensions and design.[15][16]
The cruciform Anglo-Saxon church itself has had several additions and restorations throughout its history. These includeMedieval Gothic north and southaisles in the nave that were rebuilt in the 13th century and widened early in the 14th century, and the addition in 1340 of the west tower and recessedspire.[17] The church was alsorestored between 1885 and 1886 byArthur Blomfield.[18]
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