The incorrupt body of St Cuthbert

St Cuthbert died on Farne on 20 March 687, and when his monks raised his body eleven years later they found it whole and uncorrupted, which they took as proof of his sanctity; it soon worked cures. Fleeing the Danes, they carried it about Northumbria and southern Scotland for many years until it came to rest at Durham, where its shrine grew into a blaze of gold and jewels. The body was said to be still fresh when inspected in 1104 and again in 1540. When the coffin was opened in 1827 it held only a skeleton wrapped to look entire, with plaster balls in the eye sockets.