He preferred to perform his religious devotions privately, and he later went to live an isolated life in Cornwall, near the village now called St Neot.

In addition to the religious observances prescribed by the monastery, he often awoke in the middle of the night and went to the chapel secretly to pray, in the disguise of a penitent, returning at dawn to continue the ordinary monastic routine.

As Gorham puts it, "Under a strong feeling of the danger of popular applause, he determined to retire from this public station, and to lead the life of an anchoret in some less frequented spot".

He spent seven years at this place; despite his wish to avoid public attention, the tiny community of Hamstoke became known as Neotstoke[4] or Neot-stow[5] during this time.

He evidently intended to withdraw further from the world, but the Pope dissuaded him from that course, and told him to return to Cornwall and to "scatter the word of God among the people".

In the year 867, Alfred was on a hunting expedition in the area; he turned aside to the Church at Ham-Stoke, where St Guerir[note 5] was in residence.

He then committed his soul to the mercy of the Almighty, and (stretching forth his hands towards heaven) breathed out his spirit in the midst of psalmody [the singing of psalms] and prayers.

Seven years later, a larger and more appropriate building had been made by the monks of Neotstoke, and Neot's body was reinterred at the north side of the altar.

"[20] Returning to events at the time: In the meantime, the inhabitants of Neot-Stoke, having understood that the Warden was missing, and having suspected the fraud, flocked to the Shrine of their Saint to inspect the sacred Chest.

After much waste of time and fruitless labor, having obtained information respecting the road by which he had fled, a party of the principal inhabitants traced him to Eynesbury.Restoration of the stolen property having been in vain demanded, their rage became excessive.

In honor of the Saint the name of the place was changed to Neots-bury.The chapel and monastery were located on the east bank of the River Great Ouse, on the north side of the present-day town of St Neots.

Earl Alric and Lady Ethelfleda entreated Abbot Brithnod and Bishop Æscwin that the foundation would have their protection, and that they would furnish it with monks.

Lewina, a lady of Eynesbury and the sister of Osketul, the Abbot of Croyland (now Crowland), arranged for the relics to be taken to her property at Whittlesea.

The issue became so contentious that in 1078 or 1079 Bishop Anselm (soon afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury) visited the priory at St Neots and inspected the remains, and announced that they were indeed present there.

"In 1215 these pretended relics of Neot were removed by the Abbot Henry Longchamp,[note 9] and were placed by an altar erected to his honor... As a proof of the futility of these claims, in 1295 Oliver Bp.

The Priory of St Neots was already in a poor physical condition, and when its associated lands were given by Henry VIII to Sir Richard Williams of Hinchinbrook.

They may have been seized and destroyed by King Henry's commissioners, who were ordered to remove all relics and other "superstitious" items from religious houses.

The jewel is made of gold with an enamel image under a rock crystal; it is thought to be the end of a pointer used to follow religious text when reading.

While Barius was absent at the pool, Neot prostrated himself in earnest prayer, till his servant returned with the intelligence that the fishes were disporting in the water as usual.

One day he was doing so, when he heard the approach of some horsemen; to avoid making contact with them, he hastened away to the dwelling[note 12] where he lived, to complete his prayers.

"In order that the Saint might not be scandalized by so mean a thing, the fox was miraculously cast into a deep sleep, and died, having the thongs of the shoe in his vile[note 13] mouth."

[47] A writer in the Catholic Layman tells us that an angel was involved: when the fox saw the shoe and decided to take it away: An angel, who loved to hover in hallowed places, and to breathe an atmosphere which was sanctified by the devotions of God's Saints, was present there invisibly and saw this thing, and he would not that such an one as St Neot should be molested even in so small a matter, so that he had sent the sleep of death upon the fox, and Barius when he came there found him dead —- arrested at the instant of his theft —- yet holding the thongs of the shoe in his mouth.

Neot saw this and he built a large compound of earth and granite and ordered the crows to gather in it every Sunday at the time of Liturgy: because people should hear the Word of God and because it was bad to harm the fields.

The birds obeyed immediately and as long as the saint was alive they flew to the compound every Sunday and remained there till the end of the Holy Service.

Neot, reading his psalter, as was his daily wont, with his feet immersed in his favourite well, rescues a doe from her hunter, who, struck with awe at the miracle which has preserved her from his dogs, is delivering up his horn to the saint, and afterwards turns monk himself... 4.

Barius, sent back by the saint, in alarm at his having transgressed the angel's instructions, throwing the two fish again into the well, where they are immediately restored to life...

A man and boy ploughing the ground with four stags, which, at the saint’s prayers, came and offered themselves tamely to the yoke, in lieu of the stolen oxen... 11.

One of the robbers (who were terrified by the report of the foregoing miracle) bringing back the oxen to Neot, in consequence of whose instructions out of the book he is reading to him, the thief and his companions become monks, and enter the convent... 12.

Neot kneeling to receive Pope Martin's blessings who wears the papal crown and robes, and holds the aspergillum, or holy-water sprinkle, in his right hand, and his staff, surmounted by the triple cross, in the left...

The Annals of St Neots with Vita Primi Sancti Neoti, in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition, vol.