48 SAINT MODWEN. 
image,’’ and was of something more precious than stone or 
wood, or the cartage to London would have been thought 
too costly; if it were set up over the well, I do not think 
it would have been of anything but stone or wood, and 
doubtless have shared the fate of the beautiful marble 
representation of S. Cuthbert, at Durham, which was 
‘‘Taken down and broken in pieces.” 
The inscription on the shrine has happily been preserved 
to us, and a translation of it is here given. 
“Treland gave Modwen birth; England a grave: Scotland her death; 
and God her soul shall save. 
The first land life: the third, death did give: the second earth, her 
earthly part received. 
Lanfortin takes whom Conall’s country owns, and happy Burton holds 
the Virgin’s bones.”’ 
With regard to the shrine we can only surmise that its 
construction and design closely followed those of S. Alban, 
Edward the Confessor, or S. Thomas de Canteloupe, Bishop 
of Hereford. At the suppression of the Monasteries, the 
shrines were taken down, and the bodies or relics buried 
on their site. If this happened at Burton, and I believe 
it did, S. Modwen should rest not far from the Altar of 
the Parish Church, and “happy Burton” in that case still 
holds “the Virgin’s bones.” 
