St Winifred’s Well

On 1 July 1652 John Taylor, the Water Poet, visited St Winifred’s Well at Holywell, which Chambers calls the most famous holy well in the three kingdoms. The legend says Winifred, a seventh-century maiden, was beheaded by Prince Cradocus when she refused him, and a spring gushed out where her head came to rest, its blood staining the pebbles and making the moss sweet. St Bueno set the head back on her body and she lived on in holiness. Chambers lists other wells trusted for particular ills, and pilgrims still come to bathe at Holywell.