The National Shrine in Wales, St Winefride's Chapel and Well, is believed to be the oldest continually visited pilgrim site in Britain.
The National Shrine in Wales, St Winefride’s Chapel and Well, is believed to be the oldest continually visited pilgrim site in Britain.
The Legend of St Winefride (Gwenffrewi) is well documented. She was the daughter of a local prince named Tyfid and his wife Gwenlo, and her uncle was St. Beuno. One day, around the year 630, Caradoc, a chieftain from Hawarden attempted to seduce Winefride. She ran from him towards the church which had been built by her uncle. Caradoc pursued her and cut off her head. In the place where her head fell, a spring of water came up. St. Beuno came out from the church, took up her head and placed it back on her body, praying that she would be restored to life. A white scar encircled her neck, witness to her martyrdom. Caradoc sank to the ground and was never seen again.
Winefride became a nun and, after her uncle’s departure from Holywell for the Monastery of Clynnog Fawr, joined a community at Gwytherin where she became the Abbess. She died there some 22 years later.
Pilgrimage to St Winefride’s Well has taken place throughout the 1,400 years since St Winefride was restored to life. It is of great historic significance that the crypt was not destroyed during the reformation of the middle ages and that pilgrims continued to visit despite the threat of persecution which existed for those practising the Catholic faith at that time.
The Sanctuary area comprises the Crypt, Outer Pool and Small Chapel. The chapel itself dates from the late 15th century. Set into the hillside, it’s a striking building, richly decorated and exceptionally well-built. On the bottom floor, the spring water bubbles up into a star-shaped basin beneath an elaborately vaulted ceiling before flowing out into a more recent outdoor pool, where pilgrims still visit to bathe in its waters seeking healing. Records dating back hundreds of years are testimony to the many cures from sickness and infirmity received through the intercession of St Winefride. There are also stories of those who have returned in thanksgiving for healing for themselves or others.
The shrine is on the route of the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way that travels along the Llŷn Peninsula to Bardsey Island, the ‘Isle of 20,000 Saints’. There is a Pilgrim Way for the Diocese of Wrexham that starts at the Cathedral Our Lady of Sorrows in Wrexham to the National Shrine of St Winefride in Holywell. The map, route and more information can be found on the Hearts in Search of God – Pilgrim Ways website.
For more information visit: stwinefridesshrine.org
The Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady lies just south of Walsingham.
