Woolpit is an ancient village in Suffolk, a county in the east of Britain, and in around 1150, during the reign of King Stephen, some villagers were working in the fields when they discovered a young boy and girl. The children were wearing unusable clothes, spoke in a strange language and had green skin!
They were taken to the home of Sir Richard de Calne, a wealthy local man, and offered food, but they refused to eat for several days until they they discovered some green beans in Sir Richard’s garden which they ate hungrily.
Slowly the children began to eat normal food and their skin lost its green colour. Although the boy died, the girl survived and learned enough English to explain that they had come from the “Land of Saint Martin” where there was a "permanent twilight” .
She and her brother were looking after their father’s sheep, when they came across a cave. They entered the cave and walked through a long dark passage until they emerged into bright sunlight and were found by the villagers.
The most likely explanation is that they were children of Flemish immigrants, living in a small village called Fornham St. Martin, who had been persecuted and possibly killed by King Stephen’s men. If the children had escaped as refugees into the neraby Thetford Forest, it may have seemed like a permanent twilight to the frightened orphans. It’s possible that they entered one of the many underground mine passages in the area, which finally led them to Woolpit.
Their green colouring might have been the result of hypochromic anemia, a condition caused by a poor diet which makes the skin look greenish.
The story of the green children has intrigued historians for over eight centuries and inspired numerous poems, novels, operas, and plays.
