Withburga's well and the stolen saint

Ely's monks stole Dereham's saint in the dark. They left a hole in the churchyard, and it filled with water.

Withburga, a daughter of King Anna of East Anglia, founded a nunnery at Dereham. Dutt tells how, when her workers had nothing to eat, two milch deer came every day to be milked until a jealous man hunted them. She died in 654 and was buried in the churchyard. In 974 the monks of Ely came at night, stole her body and carried it off to their abbey. A spring of clear water rose from the empty grave. That spring is the well in the churchyard, and an inscription there tells the story.