Botwulf of Thorney - Church Dedications

Church Dedications

Many English churches are dedicated to Botwulf. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 64 ancient English churches were dedicated to him, but later research has suggested the true number may have been as high as 71. There is a high concentration of dedications in East Anglia. The Stump, in the Lincolnshire town of Boston, is one of the most famous. Boston, or 'Botwulf's town', gave Boston, Massachusetts its name.

In his role as a patron saint of travellers, four City of London churches were dedicated to him, all of which were close to gates in the City walls: St Botolph Billingsgate, which was destroyed in the Great Fire and never rebuilt; St Botolph Aldersgate; St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, where the poet Keats was baptised; and St Botolph's Aldgate. It is believed that these dedications were made because the churches provided places for incoming travellers to give thanks for their safe arrival and for outgoing travellers to pray for a safe journey. An alternative possibility is that the churches were dedicated to the saint because his relics came through the four gates when Edgar moved them from Iken to Westminster Abbey.