There was a monastery in the centre of the market town of Louth, Lincolnshire, as early as the 7th century AD.

It was here that Aethelheard was Abbot. At this time, the Christian Church in Britain was part one universal Christian Church, before the division between East and West in AD 1054.

Early Christian missionaries to Britain had brought the faith as it had been taught by the Apostles and established by the Holy Fathers: it was this faith that St. Aethelheard defended throughout his life.

He was made 15th Archbishop of Canterbury in  AD 792 and for the next nine years found himself in the midst of political turmoil. Peace was eventually restored to Canterbury and henceforth St. Aethelheard determined to maintain the Universal Faith unchanged. He insisted that all bishops sign a declaration of faith in the Holy and Undivided Trinity.
'Guard the True Faith: Worship the Holy and Undivided Trinity'.

When Archbishop Aethelheard died on 12th May 805 AD he was mourned as a great and holy man. His tomb became a place of pilgrimage until it was suppressed as part of the Normanisation of England in the 11th century.


"Holy Father Aethelheard, pray to God for us."