Millam, Church of St Mildrith

Translation of the above plaque located near the church:

'Pray against the fever at the Chapel of Sinte-Mulders a young saint and Princess.'

The four sided belfry of the single nave church sticks out from the picturesque truly Flemish valley.

The holy 'Mildreda' (Sinte Mulders in local dialect) is worshiped here.

The date of 1702 on the front facade refers to the building work of uppermost part of the building. A Large porch was added at the end of the 18th century. In the beginning of the 19th century the church was lengthened to accommodate a larger chancel and the belfry above.

The Saxon princess Mildreda, originally from the Isle of Thanet at the mouth of the Thames, was one of the children of King Merewahl and his wife Ermenberga, granddaughter of the first christian King of England, Ashelred, also known as Ehelbert.

Mildreda stayed in the Abbey of Chelles, near Meaux to the east of Paris. She then left to travel to the Abbey 'Minster-in-Thanet' that was founded by her mother. On route to her country of birth, she built a hermitage in Millam, which was then a small hamlet in a cove on the English Channel. The legend is that she stayed in her hermitage to wait for the sea to calm before living for England where she became abbess. She died in 725.

Saint Milreda day is July 13, and she is the patron saint of Malaria.

She is venerated in Millam and Izenberge in West Flanders, Belgium.