Dragons and Coronations
A chapel and a chalk dragon at this remote site in Bures
Along a deserted farm track, hidden amidst woodland and overlooking the Stour Valley, is the ancient thatched church of St Stephen, also known as Chapel Barn.
On Christmas Day 855, Bishop Humbert of Elmham anointed a 14-year-old boy as King of the East Angles. The boy was Edmund and his Coronation was documented at ‘Burva’. The chronicler Galfridus de Fontibus also described the coronation as having taken place at ‘Bures’, which is an ancient royal hill. It is the general belief that this was the lonely hilltop, where St Stephen’s Chapel now stands.
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