St Olave’s Church is dedicated to the unusual Norwegian Saint Olave, or Olaf. Only about a dozen other churches in England share this dedication, including one of the smallest of all English churches, St Olave’s Wasdale Head.
Olave had an unusually direct strategy for evangelism: he presented people with a simple choice. Either they converted to Christianity or he cut off their heads. Though we share his zeal for the spread of the Church, we now exercise more respect for the beliefs of those who as yet do not share our faith, so you may visit us and worship with us in safety.
St Olave’s Gatcombe is known world-wide for its wooden effigy of a crusader, and the legend of Lucy Lightfoot.
