The Museum
The Museum occupies two rooms on the first floor of the former Victorian Custodian’s House. This Grade 1 listed building was built circa 1869. Despite its small size, the Museum houses a small collection of rare and interesting artefacts illustrating the life of St Winefride and the history of the pilgrimage to St Winefride’s Well. Amongst these, the following may be singled out for special mention:
Library
A library and archive has been established as a cultural and informational resource for the shrine of St Winefride's Well, Whilst academic and other research is encouraged by the Trustees, resources are not available to support individuals to access the library to undertake research. Any enquiries about material which may be available within the library should be sent by email to well@wrexhamdiocese.org.uk or by post to:
Museum & Library
St Winefride's Well
Greenfield Street,
Holywell,
Flintshire
CH8 7PN
- a significant portion of a c.800 AD wooden reliquary casket known as the Arch Gwenfrewi, “St Winefride’s Shrine”: the only such survival from Early Medieval Wales, it appears to be the earliest surviving material witness to the cultus of a native Saint in Wales;
- a dug-out oak chest dating perhaps from the 13th century, from Gwytherin, in Denbighshire: at one time popularly known as “St Winefride’s Coffin”, it was apparently first constructed to contain the Arch Gwenfrewi;
- two beautiful mid-17th century chalice veils embroidered with depictions of St. Winefride, and signed by the embroidress Mary Bodenham. Mary was the principal testator to the fact of the cure of her father-in-law, Sir Roger Bodenham at the Well in 1606;
- a mid-17th-century child’s bodice: a very rare example of the clothing of ordinary people of the period, it survived simply because it had been used to wrap the relics of numbers of contemporary Catholic martyrs when these were hidden away at the Star Inn (today, St. Winefride’s Presbytery). The relics are exhibited in the case alongside the bodice;
- five painted banners depicting St. Winefride and other Saints, painted in 1896/7 by Frederick Rolfe (“Baron Corvo”): commissioned by and for the shrine, the banners are the most significant surviving examples of this writer/artist’s paintings.
Library
A library and archive has been established as a cultural and informational resource for the shrine of St Winefride's Well, Whilst academic and other research is encouraged by the Trustees, resources are not available to support individuals to access the library to undertake research. Any enquiries about material which may be available within the library should be sent by email to well@wrexhamdiocese.org.uk or by post to:
Museum & Library
St Winefride's Well
Greenfield Street,
Holywell,
Flintshire
CH8 7PN
Background photograph by melissacrossphotography.com
