In 1144, a young apprentice tanner called William was found mutilated and dead in the woods north of the outskirts of Norwich.   He had apparently often come into contact with the city's Jewish population and It was falsely put about that Jews had been responsible for the boy's death. The clergy were keen to establish a martyr's cult for Norwich - stories of miracles after the boy's death had begun to appear, and he was treated as a martyr.

William's body was interred within the Cathedral after first being buried in the monks' cemetery. In about the year 1150, the Bishop of Norwich asked a monk called Thomas of Monmouth to investigate the crime. Thomas of Monmouth interviewed William's family and other witnesses. Ridiculous stories were concocted to justify the accusations against the Jewish community. 

In the 1160s, a small chapel was built on the site of the murder and burial as a pilgrimage shrine. However, the cult of St William was never widely popular, and didn't attract the pilgrims that the cathedral's monks had expected.