St Bertelin

St Bertelin is an obscure Anglo-Saxon saint about whom the only evidence is legendary. He is said to have had a hermitage on the island of Bethnei, which later became the town of Stafford. Later he went to a more hilly area, possibly near Ilam, where he died. [cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=37837 |title=Religious houses: Introduction |accessdate=2008-07-08 |last=Greenslade |first= M. W.|authorlink= |coauthors=R. B. Pugh (eds.) |date= |year=1970 |month= |format= |work=A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3. |publisher=Victoria County History |pages=135–139 ] His shrine is in the Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam. [cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?pid=1&id=274471 |title=Images of England: Church of the Holy Cross, Ilam |accessdate=2008-07-08 |publisher=English Heritage ] He is the patron saint of Stafford. [cite web |url=http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/static/page135.htm |title=About the Borough |accessdate=2008-07-08 |publisher=Stafford Borough Council ]

The priory of Augustinian canons founded in 1115 on the south bank of the River Mersey at Runcorn, Cheshire, initially dedicated to Bertelin, was adopted from the dedication to him of a Saxon church already existing on the site. This priory was the predecessor of Norton Priory. [cite book | last = Greene| first = J. Patrick | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =Norton Priory: The archaeology of a medieval religious house |edition= | publisher = Cambridge University Press| date = 1989| location =Cambridge | pages =1–3 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-521-33054-8]

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