river Avon. On his arrival in the Holy City, a fish was caught by his
companions in whose belly the very key was found which had been cast
into the river before his departure! Another account relates that
the fish who had swallowed the key leapt on board before the
travellers reached their destination! The legend of the foundation of
the Abbey is engraved on the conventual seal in a series of scenes;
and we know it was also depicted in the glass of one of the large
windows in the church.

[Illustration: The Bell Tower Evesham]

How far the events of this early time are historical, how far
traditionary, or even mythical, it is impossible to say, but for many
years afterwards the record gives us merely the scanty information we
should expect. We hear of the depredations of the Danes, and the
destruction by them of the monastery, and later of discords and
dissensions between monks and canons; indeed, it is not until the
reign of Canute that the Benedictines gained complete and final
possession of the Abbey and its estates. The first church and
monastery were probably of wood. Later, in the Saxon period, stone
would have taken its place, but the form was no doubt primitive in the
extreme. The founder's tomb would be the principal treasure, but, as
time went on, other relics were acquired, and many shrines needed to
contain the precious remains.

It was to King Canute that the monks owed the relics of Saint Wistan,
which held the place of honour in the church in mediæval days. They
were enclosed in a magnificent tomb erected behind the high altar, in
the position occupied by the shrine of Edward the Confessor in the
Abbey Church of Westminster. Soon afterwards we hear of the