Trip to Ladyewell


Torch of The Faith News on Thursday 30 October 2008 - 18:39:24 | by admin

layewell_021.jpgAfter the Divine Mercy prayer group Ray and Maryla suggested that we join them, and their son Phil, on a day trip up to the ancient shrine of Ladyewell near Preston.

layewell_023.jpgThe area around Ladyewell is called Fernyhalgh and was once settled by Romans and subsequently by Anglo-Saxons.

Around 1100 A.D. an Irish merchant called Fergus Maguire was caught in a storm in the Irish Sea. He prayed to God to deliver him and promised to perform some pious action if he were spared. He heard a heavenly voice saying -

'Go to Fernyhalgh and there where thou shalt find a crabtree having coreless fruit hanging over a shrine, build me a chapel.'

After landing at Liverpool (then a small port) he travelled through the northwest in search of such a place. When he eventually came to Fernyhalgh, and found everything as it had been described by the voice, he saw a stone bearing a tracery of Our Lady and the Child Jesus and realized that this must have already had some history as a Marian shrine.

layewell_022.jpgDocumentary evidence exists to prove the existence of a chapel on the site by 1349 A.D. Although this was destroyed in 1547 during the Protestant Reformation, the faithful continued to travel on pilgrimage to the Holy Well at the site. 

In 1685 A.D., after the Catholic King James came to the throne, Ladyewell House was built as a Mass centre with a priest's accomodation and a chapel. In 1687, Bishop Leyburne confirmed 1,099 souls at the house whilst the Catholic Faith could be practiced openly. Sadly of course, the king had to flee England and the persecution of Catholics began again. 

In 1715, the resident priest Fr. Tootle had to hide in a nearby barn whilst pursuviants ransacked Ladyewell House, which today houses a little chapel, cafe, museum, reliquary, book stall and piety shop.  
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