St Winifred was a Welsh
damsel who rejected inappropriate advances of a knight and was
beheaded as a result. However, her uncle picked up both pieces of her
body and with some help of healing water from a nearby spring brought
her back to life. In time she became an abbess of a convent that
sprang next to the spring. The fame of the healing waters spread and
people made pilgrimages there from all over the country. In some more
time a Gothic chapel was built over the font, and also a pool
where the sick pilgrims could take a dip. King Henry closed the
convent but the pilgrimages apparently continued and they do continue
to this day. The Gothic chapel is still there, the pool is there, a
changing room next to it is there and you can still have a dip if
need be. There is also a shop with rosaries, various holy pictures
and also plastic bottles with a picture of the chapel, so you can
take some of that water with you. There is a special pump next to the
pool for this very purpose. The place is in a town called (surprise
surprise) Holywell in the north-east corner of Wales, quite near Liverpool.
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