Botolph and his brother, Adolph, were two noble English brothers,
probably born in East Anglia. At some point they travelled into
Belgian Gaul to learn more about Christian discipline in a monastery
because they were then scarce in England. They progressed in the
spiritual life to the point that Adolph is said to have been raised
to the episcopate, though this is questioned. Botolph is said to
have been chaplain to the convent where two of his king's sisters
lived, possibly at Chelles.
Botolph returned to England with the treasure he had found and begged King Ethelmund of the South Saxons for land on which to set it. The king gave him the wilderness of Ikanhoe, once thought to be near Boston (Botulf's stone) but now believed to be Iken in Suffolk. (Some say that the land was provided by the king of East Anglia, either Ethelhere, 654, or more likely Ethelwold, 654-64.) There he built an abbey and taught the brethren the rules of Christian perfection. He was one of the foremost missionaries of the 7th century.
Everyone loved Botolph. He was humble, mild, and affable. He always practised what he preached, finding an upright example far more important than sermons. St Ceolfrid travelled all the way from Wearmouth to converse with this man "of remarkable life and learning" before joining St Benedict Biscop at Wearmouth. Botolph thanked God in good times and in bad, knowing that God works all things to the good of those who love Him. He lived to a venerable age and was purified by a long illness before his happy death
After his death , the saint's bones were transferred from Icanhoh to the relative safety of 'Grundisburgh' and in the early 1000s King Cnut authorised the removal of some of these precious relics to the abbey at Bury St Edmunds, which he had founded in 1020. Although Grundisburgh and Burgh are now two adjoining parishes, in those early days the area then known as Grundisburgh may well have included what we now know as Burgh, because the name signifies the Burg (fort) at 'Grund' - meaning the foundations of an old building site. This so aptly describes this impressive defensive site which would have provided an ideal repository for the saint's remains, especially in the time of the marauding Danes, who destroyed Botolph's Icanhoh monastery in 870.
His relics were carried to Ely (the head) and Thorney Abbeys. It is said that when Ethelwold sent his disciple Ulfkitel to collect the relics of Botolph for Thorney Abbey, he found that he could not move them without also taking those of Adolph as well. St Edward the Confessor gave some of them to Westminster and others are at Bury Saint Edmunds. More than 70 English churches were dedicated to Saint Botolph, including four parishes in London. Other place names also recall his sanctity including the town of Boston in Lincolnshire and Botolph's bridge, now Bottle-bride, in Huntingdonshire.
In art, St Adolph, bishop, and Saint Botolph, abbot, hold the Abbey of Ikanhoe, Suffolk, England. The four gates of the City of London are dedicated to them.