Malmesbury Abbey was the site of monk Eilmer's ill-fated flight around the turn of the 11th century, inspired by the ancient Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus (inset)
Did a medieval monk really fly?
Born in the late 10th century, Eilmer of Malmesbury was an English Benedictine monk famous for one of the earliest recorded attempts at human flight. Only sparse details of his life survive, in a passage from William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum, written around 1125. But it seems that, inspired by the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus, Eilmer built a set of ‘wings’ and leapt from a tower at Malmesbury Abbey. He glided briefly – before a gust of wind sent him crashing to the ground, breaking both his legs and, according to William's text, leaving him “lame ever after”.
Modern analysis suggests that Eilmer's flight was indeed feasible. Assuming he set off into a south-westerly wind, he would have been borne aloft for a few seconds by air currents rolling off surrounding hills.
We don't know the exact date of Eilmer's flight, but it's estimated to have taken place between 995 and 1010. His legacy endures in Malmesbury; though the long-running Flying Monk inn closed in the 1980s, a brewery
