8:38am Wednesday 20th September 2006
By Claire Ward-Willis
A MASSIVE festival is being planned in Crediton for 2009 to celebrate the 1100th anniversary of the founding of the county's first cathedral in the town.
It is believed the town was selected for the cathedral because of its connections with Bonniface, born Winfrith in or near Crediton around 680AD.
It is believed Bonniface was instrumental in securing land for a monastery at Crediton in 739, meaning the town was a well established spiritual centre in Saxon Devon and Cornwall by 909 ... and therefore an obvious candidate for a cathedral.
The cathedral remained for the next 140 years until Bishop Leofric, the ninth Bishop of Crediton, petitioned Pope Leo IX to remove the See (the church administration) to Exeter.
But the cathedral's creation is still celebrated in the town and a Crediton Festival 2009 coordinating committee was set up earlier this year to organise a four-week long festival to mark the occasion.
The festival will run during the last week of May and over the first three weeks of June.
Events being planned include religious, civic and music events, sports and cultural events and Saxon re-enactments.
Church and civic groups are involved with the event along with many of the town's clubs and societies.
For further information on the festival visit www.boniface.org.uk or write to the secretary, Crediton Festival 2009, Crediton Information Centre, Town Hall, High Street, Crediton, EX17 3LF.
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