Legend of Eof

LEGEND has it that Ecgwine, the third bishop of Worcester, had a swineherd called Eoves (or Eof) working for him in the woods where Evesham now stands.

One day, while tending his pigs, Eof saw a bright light and beheld a vision of the Blessed Virgin, attended by two others. “Her splendour darkened that of the sun, and her beauty exceeded all worldly features”. Eof hastened to tell the bishop what he had seen and the bishop was so impressed that he came to Homme.
 
Walking alone in the woods where Eof had seen the vision, he fell prostrate in prayer and, on rising, the same vision was revealed to him. Egwin regarded this as a heavenly intimation that a religious house should be erected on the spot to the honour of the Virgin Mary.
 
King Ethelred gave the land to Egwin, so that he could build his first church there. The vision of Eof was firmly accepted by Egwin's successors and a representation of the scene appears on the conventual seal of the monastery.
 
In AD 704 King Ethelred resigned his crown in favour of his nephew Coenred and he and Offa, King of the East Saxons, by a charter of AD 709, are said to have confirmed to the monastery of Evesham many estates, including most of Evesham, Lenchwick, Norton, Offenham, the Littletons, Aldington, Badsey, Bretforton, Church Honeybourne and Wickhamford.
 
Source: The Book of Evesham, by Benjamin J. Cox.