St Swithin's Day: yet more showers?

The bad news – it rained on St Swithin's Day.

The good news – Met Office records show that in past years, bad weather on this day (July 15) has not always been followed by 40 continuous days of rain.

An old rhyme which has been part of oral tradition since Elizabethan times sums up the legend:

'St Swithin’s Day, if it does rain
Full forty days, it will remain
St Swithin’s Day, if it be fair
For forty days, t'will rain no mair.'

St. Swithin (alternative spelling spelt Swithun) was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester and legend has it that as he lay on his deathbed, he asked to be buried out of doors, at one with nature, where the rain would fall on his grave.

For nine years, his wishes were followed, but then, on 15 July 971, the monks of Winchester attempted to remove his remains to a splendid shrine inside the cathedral . According to legend there was a heavy rain storm during the ceremony, which was taken to be a sign of St Swithin’s protest at the move.

This tale became embellished over time and embedded in folklore.

Fortunately, on numerous occasions in the past, records have shown that rain on this day has not been followed by 40 continuous days of bad weather.

On this occasion perhaps St Swithin could allow for all the retrospective rain of the season to be taken into account and concede that we have already had more than our fair share of storms and showers this summer.