THE scholar and saint who reputedly became the first Abbot of Malmesbury was once more the toast of the town on bank holiday Monday – exactly 1,340 years after his death.

Hundreds of people gathered for a medieval-style celebration in honour of St Aldhelm, who died on May 25, 675, after becoming one of the most important figures of his era.

Such was his stature that in the 11th century William the Conqueror gave permission for the people of Malmesbury to hold a feast and fair on the annual date of his death.

More than 900 years later and the tradition continues after a group of leading townspeople decided to revive St Aldhelm’s Fair as the event was in danger of becoming history.

Town councillor Sue Poole, last year’s Mayor of Malmesbury, said: “St Aldhelm’s Fair has been going, on and off, for as long as I can remember. But in recent years it has fallen away a bit.”

She said that after the event failed to materialise in 2013 they decided to make a big effort to re-stage it last year.

This year they went one better to create a medieval themed event which saw maidens in colourful period costume sweep through the town’s ancient streets while medieval music, courtesy of a specialist bands of minstrels, filled the air.

To the delight of just about everyone who saw them in action, The Long Bow Association gave displays on that renowned form of English warfare in the Cloister Gardens.

Assorted stalls were dotted around the Market Cross and Birdcage Walk while fittingly, a stunning flower festival blossomed in St Aldhelm’s Church.

“We decided to make it more fun and interesting this year. It all went really well with some good feedback from the public,” said Coun Poole.

She went on: “St Aldhelm was a very important monk here and it was really good that the Bank Holiday fell on the date of his death.”

As well as playing a key role in the development of Malmesbury, St Aldhelm was also renowned as a poet and the writer of riddles.

As such members of the public were on Monday shown some of his riddles and asked to solve them.

Coun Poole added: “We haven’t had time to look at all the responses yet – but they were difficult to solve so it’s going to be interesting to see how people did.”