St Mary’s Sanctuary of Stow

We’re all familiar with the idea of a medieval sanctuary. Any fugitive could seek shelter from arrest or persecution by reaching a protected place (in Scotland, this applied to any parish kirk). This right typically lasted 40 days, at which point the individual had to make good with his pursuers, submit to justice or leave the country altogether.

So far, so familiar, right?

However, in researching The Dance of Vipers, I found a few holy places offered a much wider and higher form of sanctuary. Funnily enough, my discovery came about after doing a book talk for The Trail of Blood, in the beautiful village of Stow-in-Wedale. Through that, I met a local author and historian, Mary Craig, who told me the remarkable story of that parish.

Stow had been a holy site since ancient Celtic times, thanks to a well, which was associated with the Virgin Mary. A church was built there and the settlement attracted thousands of pilgrims over the years, including several Scottish monarchs. Through this revered status, St Mary’s was then granted a rare privilege: one of only three sites in Scotland where the rights of sanctuary were more expansive (under the ancient law of ‘girth’). For starters, the protective principle applied to the entire parish, an area extending for miles beyond the church and encompassing entire villages and farms. In addition, the time limit was more generous and the presiding priest was empowered to repel all pursuers, under the king’s grant.

The idea of a place where outlaws could effectively hide out for long stretches – mingling with pilgrims, priests and worshippers – appealed to me as it seemed to embody a recurring theme of my series: the co-existence of good and evil in close proximity to each other. So I incorporated the sanctuary into the storyline of my next book.

Appropriately enough, the official launch of The Dance of Vipers will be at St Mary’s on 24th July 2025.