Visit:
 

St Winefride's Well

Plessington House, Greenfield St, Holywell CH8 7PN, Wales, United Kingdom

​

​

THE SHRINE AND WELL

The well is contained within a beautiful early 16th-century building in Perpendicular Gothic style. This beautiful structure has a bathing pool within a star-shaped inner chamber, joined to a more modern rectangular bathing pool for pilgrims.

In the inner pool is St Bueno's Stone, taken from the nearby streambed. Look up at the vaulted canopy over the pool; it was erected by Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, and carries elaborate carvings of Tudor family symbols. Carvings depicting St Winifred are everywhere; one large carving is set on the ceiling, showing the saint with a staff and a crown upon her head.

The earliest written records of pilgrimages date to the 12th century, when pilgrims claimed healing from illness after bathing in the waters of the well. Among the treasures on display in the museum are wooden crutches thrown aside by pilgrims after healing.

 

THE CHAPEL

Most visitors focus on the holy well and shrine, and that's understandable, but they miss a real historical treat; above the well rises a late 15th-century chapel, nominally in the care of CADW, but the key is kept at the holy well reception desk in the museum.

The chapel is really the 'above ground' part of the holy well structure; while the crypt provides a vaulted chamber over the well pool itself, the upper floors provide a chapel with a nave, north aisle, and apse. It is well worth exploring the chapel, especially for the exceptional corbel head carvings in the aisle. Look for the carved wooden head of a man sticking his tongue out.

 

ROYAL PILGRIMAGES

At least 6 royal visitors have come to Holywell over the centuries. The earliest recorded visit was by Richard I (King Richard the Lionheart) in 1189. Perhaps the most famous visit was by Henry V in 1416. Henry came to give thanks for his victory at Agincourt the previous year. He famously went on foot from Shrewsbury Abbey to Holywell as an act of reverence.

In 1461 Edward IV of England came on pilgrimage. According to an account by the Welsh poet Tudor Aled, the king took earth from beside the well and placed it upon his crown.

In 1686 James II and Queen Mary Beatrice visited the well to pray for an heir. An account written 110 years later says that the priests at the well gave the king the shift (a slip or chemise) worn by Mary, Queen of Scots to her execution. Mary, of course, was the king's great-grandmother.

In 1828 King Leopold of Belgium brought his young niece Victoria, the future queen of England, to Holywell. And finally, the most recent royal visit came in 2005, when HRH The Duchess of Gloucester came to the well and visited the museum.

 

THE MUSEUM

Visitors access the holy well through the museum, which has been created from a Victorian house built for the site custodian. I'm not usually one for museums, being more interested in the actual historic site; I came to Holywell to see the shrine and the chapel, but I was completely hooked on the site museum before I even got to the holy well.

The operators have done an extremely good job of telling the story of Winefride and her life, and how the holy well developed over time. It is an engrossing tale, and the museum really does add to the experience of visiting this wonderful historic site.