I live in a converted 13th century cistercian chapel, modified in the Victorian and Edwardian era to a house dedicated to the house of Wessex and the first Saxon King of England Aethelstan. The property is called Abbots Oak and is about a mile north of the summit of Bardon Hill in Leicestershire. I noticed with interest recently the location of Aethelstans battle ground in the Wirral, an area connected to the Edwardian owner of this property, Lady Miriam Bertha Joyce and her husband Sir Matthew Ingle Joyce.. Is the symbolic dedication of this house and and it’s Saxon decoration a coincidence or another link to Aethelstan.

The link to this King was first brought to my attention by American visitors who also had a signet ring with the same symbol, Wyvern flanked by two crowned lions, as we do above the main entrance crow stepped gables. It could have been an Edwardian folly but the symbols repeat in our main room on the mantle above the fireplace.

Antony Kurr