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We were very blessed today with a visit by Fr. John Harris from Holy Spirit parish in Netherton, which is north of Liverpool. Over the years Father has ministered to us with the Sacraments of the Church, his wise counsel, and good sense of humour.  After a spot of lunch we headed down to the ancient St. Winefride's Well to pray and get a few photographs.
This display, in the shrine museum, portrays St. Beuno restoring St. Winefride's head, (and therefore her life!), after she had been killed defending her purity against Caradoc in 660 A.D. at this site. In the foreground is a representation of St. Beuno's stone; the actual stone is in the outdoor pool at the holy well itself. If you look closely you will notice the scar on St. Winefride's neck; which is also seen on stained glass images of this great Welsh saint. (For the full story check out page 6 of this blog).  
About a mile down the road from the ancient shrine at Holywell, in the area called Greenfield, stand the remains of Basingwerk Abbey. 
These atmospheric ruins are all that remain of this, once great, abbey; which originally dated from 1131/2. The first monks were Benedictines from Savigny Abbey in France. In 1147 the community came under the control of the Cistercians, and Basingwerk thus became a daughter house of the remarkable Citeaux Abbey in France. The monks continued here and ministered to the pilgrims to St. Winefride's Well for a further, incredible 389 years, until 1536 when the community was plundered in the wake of King Henry VIII's Dissolution Act. 
Fr. Harris inspects the ancient structure; hopefully good enough to still be going strong for another Christian millenium... and the walls too! Â
