Saint
The Three-Day Saint
He preached a sermon on his second day alive.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Ruined 1623 conduit house over medieval holy well
- Legend from
- Anglo-Saxon, 7th century
- Tone
- Curious
On Buckingham's edge lies the well of a saint who, legend says, spoke, preached and prophesied, all before he was three days old.
St Rumbold, a grandson of the pagan king Penda of Mercia, is said to have lived just three days around AD 650. Born at King's Sutton, he cried out three times that he was a Christian, asked for baptism, and directed the miraculous carrying of a heavy stone font. On his second day he preached a sermon on the Trinity; on the third he foretold his death and asked to rest finally at Buckingham. His shrine in Buckingham's old church drew pilgrims, who also sought the healing water of his well southwest of the town. A conduit house was built over the spring in 1623; its ruins were restored in 2002.