Fancy a Walk?
The North Crawley Ramblers meet outside the Village Institute at 10.AM on the last Sunday of every month for a two hour ramble along local footpaths. If you enjoy walking make that a date. For more information you can contact Fred Flower on 391480
| There are 6.1/2 miles of footpaths waymarked with the special circular
walk discs from the Kilpin Green exit of the recreation ground. Shorter
walks of 4 or 5 miles can be chosen. All walks are along paths in
attractive mixed farmland. NORTH CRAWLEY North Crawley is one of those parishes where a complicated system of land ownership over the years has ensured that the pattern of small hedged fields close to the village centre has survived almost intact since 1773. The further from the village, the larger the fields, which are remnants of the ancient open field system. As a result, walks in the parish cross a pleasing mixture of pasture and arable lands. Some of the names of the fields still in use are modern forms of the names of previous owners, especially the colonising Scandinavians who originally cleared the forests, and the Frenchmen who took possession after the Norman Conquest. One example is Allosey Field from Alwoldshey meaning Aethewalks enclosure. The village name itself is Old English - Craulai, Crowe (crow) leah (clearing). ST FIRMINS CHURCH 
There are only two churches in Britain dedicated to this little known
saint who was the first bishop of Amiens, martyred in AD 287. The villagers of Little Crawley resisted attempts to become
part of neighbouring Chicheley Parish in the early 16th century by proving
that they truly belonged to St Firmins. They had paid their tithes and a
large share of repairing the church wall. They had registered their
burials there and had rights to church seats. SAINT FIRMIN Saint Firmin, son of a senator, was a native of Pampeluna in Navarre. With his father he was taught the Christian faith by Honestus, a disciple of Saint Saturninus, the bishop of Toulouse, himself the disciple of Saint Peter the Apostle. Saint Firmin, who had been confided by his father to Honestus for his education and had accompanied him on his apostolic journeys, was eventually consecrated bishop by Saint Honoratus, successor to Saint Saturninus at Toulouse. Firmin received the mission to preach the Gospel in the remoter parts of the Occident, or Gaul; thus he preached in the regions of Agen, Angers, and Beauvais. In what is now Clement-Ferrand, after long discussions with two ardent idolaters, he won them over. Error, wherever he passed, seemed to flee before him, as if the infernal powers feared to undertake a combat with this formidable adversary who was sure to defeat them. He had not yet suffered persecution. Desiring martyrdom, he decided to go to a center of paganism in the north, in what is now Normandy, near Lisieux. There he was arrested and imprisoned for a time by the pagans. When delivered, he continued on towards the north, to a region where Saint Denys of Paris had baptized many. He confirmed the Christians in their faith, and went wherever a soul might have need of him. The Roman authorities heard of him and arrested him; the Saint generously confessed Jesus Christ in their presence. Again he was imprisoned, but released when the prefect and his successor both died suddenly. He was obliged, however, to flee secretly. When he arrived at Amiens, he placed his residence there and founded a large church of faithful disciples. Amiens conserves the memory of the day he arrived and preached fearlessly there beside a temple of Jupiter, at a site where now the Basilica of Our Lady stands. He taught aloud the salutary doctrine of Christianity to all who came to listen. Many conversions followed, even among the authorities of the city, including the senator. He continued his preaching in that region for a number of years, while the pagan temples became literally deserted. And then two Roman officials, Longulus and Sebastian, heard of him and came to the city. The pagan priests saw their opportunity, when all the city residents were convoked to appear before the visitors. The two officials explained that the capital penalty was decreed for those who did not obey the imperial edicts, not offering incense to the gods and honoring them. The pagan priests then told them of one who always refused to do so, and Saint Firmin, after an eloquent defense of the religion of Christ, was imprisoned. He finally saw his most ardent desire fulfilled when certain soldiers decided on their own to accomplish the imperial orders, and came with swords to his prison at night, where they decapitated the bishop. He died, filled with joy at their coming. This occurred under the reign of Trajan in the first years of the second century. The holy bishop remains in the greatest honor in the city of Amiens. Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 11. (info kindly supplied by David Allerton-Austin) back to top
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