We recently spent an afternoon in the village of Sherston with work experience students looking at the development of the village. A prominent feature is the Rattlebone Inn, standing at the corner of the market place of what was a planned medieval town. The inn sign shows a Saxon warrior wielding an axe, commemorating the legend of John Rattlebone.

 
F0018  The Rattlebone Inn. The building dates from around 1700 when several new houses were built in Sherston.

We must turn now to John Aubrey, who recorded the following piece of doggerel that was used by old women and children in the mid 17^th century;

            “Fight well Rattlebone,

             Thou shalt have Sherstone.”

                        “What shall I with Sherston doe,          

                         Without I have all belongs thereto?”

            “Thou shalt have Wyck and Willesly,

             Easton towne and Pinkeney.”

In the mid 19^th century the men of Sherston were still tenaciously holding to their belief that the Saxon champion of Sherston came out to fight for Edmund Ironside against the Dane Canute in a battle in 1016.

They showed visitors a statue in a niche on the outside of the church porch that they claimed to be Rattlebone staunching the flow of blood from a severe wound in his stomach by holding a stone tile to his body. Inside the church they would point out a wooden chest with the initials ‘R B’ that was said to be Rattlebone’s. So, what is the truth?

 
F0035  The two feet high figure of a priest with book, once said to be Rattlebone, on the church porch.

In 1016 there was a great battle between King Edmund Ironside, second son of Ethelred the Unready, and Cnut (Canute), who in 1016 became King of England at the age of 23, at a place called Sceorstan in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Now Sherston was called Scorstan in the 11^th century but it’s now believed that the battle could have taken place at Sarston in Hampshire, a few miles east of Amesbury, as following events seem to place it between Salisbury and Winchester. Edmund would certainly have called up all able bodied men to fight at battles throughout the country and it is most likely that a Saxon from Sherston would have been in his army as Wessex was under his control.

It is unlikely that any Saxon in the army would have been promised lands as he would have been expected to fight for his ealdorman and his king. Does this verse record the memory of how the land around Sherston became an estate under one owner, linking it to famous local Saxon and promoting his worth by it being the reward for his exploits in battle? In 1086 Sherston, Pinckney, Wick and Willersley were all one estate although Easton had a different owner. In the time of Edward the Confessor Sherston was held by Godus and Easton by Alwi but a division could have taken place after 1016.

 And what of the relics that Sherstonians liked to show visitors? John Aubrey commented that “the figure resembles more a priest than a soldier” and it is clearly a representation of a priest holding a book. The chest is 17^th century and ‘R B’ might well be the initials of the churchwarden who had it made or of a vicar. However we should not let later misunderstandings cloud our judgement of the story. It is possible that there is an historic event that gave rise to this legend and Sherston is right to be proud of Rattlebone.

F0036  17^th century chest with the initials ‘R B’ in the church of the Holy Cross.

If you have enjoyed this article, the following entries may also be of interest:

John Aubrey's Connections with Broadchalke

Unravelling a Village's Origins

Sally in the Wood