BBC How we built Britain?

Question:

BBC How we built Britain?

I watched it the other night (the west putting on the style) one part, a woman was beheaded, her head was put back on. Where her head had been thrown has (supposedly) healing qualities. does anyone know where this place is I thought it was in north Wales?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: The English are a very literal bunch - - - - the site is called Holywell and yes it is in North Wales by the naks of the River Dee.

It is the Legend of St Winifried and also refered to as St Winifried's Well.. A Neat Tale here are some links,,,

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sai...
"""Winifred of Wales
Also known as
Guinevere; Guinevra; Gwenfrewi; Wenefrida; Winefride; Winfred of Wales
Memorial
3 November
Profile
Daughter to Trevith, a member of the Welsh landed class and advisor to the king. Spiritual student of her maternal uncle Saint Beuno. Physically beautiful, she made a private vow of chastity, becoming a bride of Christ. Murdered when she rejected the amorous advances of a chieftain named Caradog of Hawarden; she had escaped from him, and was seeking shelter in a church when he caught and killed her. Legend says that where her head fell, a well sprang up which became a place of pilgrimage, and whose waters were reported to heal leprosy, skin diseases, and other ailments. Saint Beuno raised her back to life; he cursed Caradog who was promptly swallowed by the earth. Winifred became a nun, and later abbess at Cwytherin, Deubighshire.
Born
c.600 at Hollywell, Wales
Died
beheaded in the early 7th century; c.655 of natural causes at Deubighshire, Wales; relics translated to Shrewsbury, England in 1138; shrine destroyed and relics scattered by order of King Henry VIII in 1540; remaining relics taken to Rome, but returned to England in 1852, and now housed at Holywell and Shrewsbury
Name Meaning
friend of peace (Celtic / Gaelic)
Patronage
incest victims; martyrs; Shrewsbury, England
Representation
Celtic maiden holding a sword with a fountain at her feet, and red ring around her neck where her head has been severed and restored; abbess with a ring around her neck standing near the fountain; beheaded woman carrying her head and a martyr's palm; beheaded woman with a block, axe, and her head at her feet; carrying a sword and palm with a spring of water at her feet; having her head restored by Saint Beuno
Additional Information
Saint Winefride and Her Well, by T. Charles-Edward
Holywell, Clwyd, by Roy Fry and Tristan Gray Hulse
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
New Catholic Dictionary: Holywell
Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
Translate
espa㱯l | fran㧡is | deutsch | italiano | portugu㪳
Readings
Virgo Vernans
Sequentia for Saint Winifred
A virgin flourishing as the rose,
The comely bride of Him Who is the Lamb,
As the precious martyr of Christ,
Hath Winifred richly blossomed.

Sprung from the stock of Britons,
Unshakable in faith, joyful in hope,
Holy in deeds, and pure of mind,
She was free of this world's deceptions.

This virgin was slain by Caradoc,
And immediately the pit of Orcus hell swallowed him up.
For that is the place for the wicked,
And there with Satan he is burning.

In demonstrating proof of this happening,
A fountain welleth up at the bidding of God,
In the likeness of crimson reddening,
Where she was deprived of her head.

There many miracles are performed;
The blind see, and the dumb are given speech,
All manner of disease is put to flight,
When those who ask have faith.

O Winifred, our glorious lady,
Calm for us the billows of the sea,
Lest we become the ready prey of the enemy,
O compassionate one, afford us thy protection. Amen.
from the Complete Old Sarum Rite Missal, Saint Hilarion Press, 1998 ""

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/nor...
""St. Winifred's Well was an important place for pilgrims to visit during the Middle Ages. The story is told of how in the 7th century a young prince, Caradoc, visited Tegeingle near the mouth of the River Dee. Caradoc saw a pretty young girl called Winifred and made advances towards her. Winifred rejected and then ran towards the church. Caradoc, furious for being treated in this way, chased after her and cut off her head with a sword.

The head rolled down the hill towards the church. Winifred's father, Beuno, was just leaving the church and realizing what had happened, "cursed Caradoc so that he fell dead". Beuno lifted the head, wrapped it in his cloak and returned to Mass, where he asked the people to help him with their prayers for Winifred. He then joined the "head to her body and she at once revived, and afterwards bearing only a red threadlike mark around her throat."

Legend has it that where Winifred's head had fallen "the stones surrounding the fountain were stained forever with her blood, and the blood falling in the water coloured also the moss that grows there and which has the perfume of frankincense, though some say of violets."

A well was built where Winifred's head fell and people believed in the Middle Ages that its water had a curative quality. Therefore people visited St. Winifred's Well seeking physical help rather than a pilgrimage of penance.

On 23rd November, 1851, Pope Pius IX granted indulgences to pilgrims who visited St. Winifred's Well. This increased the number of visitors but on 5th January, 1917, disaster struck when the spring, which had been bubbling at the rate of twenty-one tons a minute, went suddenly dry. The reason for this was that tunnelling by a local lead-mine company, had caused the water to drain away into the River Dee. Later that year the lead-miners had managed to divert another underground stream to restore the supply of water. ""

COOL PHOTOS HERE
http://www.castlewales.com/winifred.html...
"""The holy spring of St Winifred, an important center of medieval pilgrimage still venerated today, is said to have risen where St Beuno restored his niece St Winifred to life after her head had been severed by Cardoc, a rejected suitor. St Beuno is a well-attested 7th-century figure, responsible for bringing Celtic monasticism to much of north Wales.
The shrine was first mentioned as a place of pilgrimage in 1115, and from 1240 to the dissolution it was part of the possessions of Basingwerk Abbey. Henry V made the pilgrimage in 1416 before his victory at Agincourt, as did Edward IV before Towton Moor in 1461. The future Henry VII, too, is thought to have made a secret visit before winning his crown at Bosworth in 1485.

The present remarkable and architecturally unique building, set into a hillside, dates from the late 15th century. It was probably built for Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII's mother, to replace an earlier structure, and is richly ornamented on the exterior with a frieze of animals, and the badges of Henry VII and Thomas Stanley (Margaret Beaufort's third husband); the quality of the workmanship suggests that royal masons may have been employed.

The building consists of two floors. The well-chamber is open on the downhill (northern) side, while there is level access from the south into the chapel above. A copious spring of clear water rises in a central basin in the shape of a truncated eight-pointed star, with steps in the front for access by the sick. The water flows away beneath the surrounding walkway into a more recent swimming pool. The basin is enclosed by a low wall from which columns rise to form part of an elaborately ornamented vault of unusually complex design, matching the form of the pool below.

The chapel has a north aisle and an apsidal chancel. The three bays of the aisle mirror the three arcades of the vault in the well-chamber below, although stairs linking the two floors are now blocked. ""

Peace