Who was St Neot?

A brief summary of the life of St Neot after whom the town of St Neots is named



St Neot, the Patron Saint of Fish, was a relative of King Alfred the Great.

St Neot

A cartoon of a Monk, like St Neot, with a Butterfly.



Starting his adult life as a soldier Neot became a monk at Glastonbury Abbey, where he was ordained and became sacristan there. He then departed to become a hermit first in Cornwall and then near Bodmin Moor. It is said that he had a strange way with animals and birds and that he worked miracles with them.


Neot was canonised a saint for his good work caring for the poor. There are many churches dedicated to St Neot and at least one Holy Well. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates his feast day on July 21st. It is said he was only four feet tall, he became known as the Pygmy Saint. He died in 877 of natural causes.

There are supposed relics of St Neot that used to be in the Medieval Friary that are now in St Neot's Church and some in the Abbey of Bec, Normandy, France. There is a large mosaic of St Neot in the Market Place