Origins of the Name

Modwenna

The company is named after Modwenna, the patron saint of the wells from which the water for the brewing industry is extracted in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire.

Modwenna was the daughter of a powerful Irish prince called Mochta. On a pilgrimage to Rome around AD 630 she stopped at Andreesey, now Burton upon Trent. There she founded a church and on her return from Rome settled there with others for some seven years.

During that time she is said to have carried out many miracles using holy water drawn from her well. Burton Abbey was founded by Wulfric Spot in AD 1002 and was dedicated to St. Modwen, whose shrine had become a place of pilgrimage since her death.

The reason for the name? St. Modwen Developments' first commercial property transaction was the purchase of malting premises for development in Burton upon Trent in 1966 by our first chairman Sir S. W. Clarke.

Legend has it that on the morning of Modwenna's death two silver swans bore her soul to heaven – hence the company's swan logo.