St Wilfrid finds comfort during his tussle with the King of Northumbria
St Wilfrid was made Bishop of York, capital of the ancient Kingdom of Northumbria, in 665. He was involved in constant controversy as he resented King Ecgfrith’s interference, but he was also a key figure in keeping the English Church in close contact with the Orthodox churches of Rome and Greece, for which Bede praises him.
Hild founded an abbey that poured out a stream of priests and bishops for the revitalised English Church.
Hild or Hilda was a seventh-century Northumbrian princess who at the age of thirty-three became a nun. Taught by St Aidan, she was one of the early English Church’s most respected figures and was given the care of a monastery for men and women at Hartlepool, moving to Whitby in about 657. There she trained clergy to preach the gospel and lead church services for Christians all over the kingdoms of the English.
The proof of Thomas Ferres’s rags-to-riches tale is quite literally written in stone, but popular lore adds some tantalising and romantic detail.
The rags-to-riches story of Thomas Ferres (d. 1631) has blended fact with a good deal of romantic fiction. But Thomas was a real historical figure, and however he came by his wealth, the way he used it to help the poor and vulnerable is deeply moving.
His alpaca-wool mills near Bradford proved the social benefits of private enterprise in the right hands.
Sir Titus Salt (1803-1876), Baronet, was a Victorian industrialist who made his fortune in the wool industry. His Christian principles and dislike of industrial slums led him to build a model village for his workforce by the River Aire.