Customer Reviews

Winifred's Well

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book will probably be of interest to any fans of Saint Winifred or Welsh history, as it discusses her legend and its legacy in some depth. It would also be a good read for anyone interested in quirky histories in general, being an extremely readable interweaving of ancient legend, centuries of more recent history and spiritual traditions, and a personal travelogue of a spelunking expedition to the modern (underground) site of the well in question.

Being from Holywell, Strand North Wales I found this book very intersting as I grew up in this area and am very familiar with most of the facts this book is based on so I was very pleased to read it. My wife and I were visiting the well on vacation in March and found out about the book from one of the attendents at the well. So upon completion of the book it was mailed to the attendents at the well to read and share with guests. So I give this book a rating of five stars. Thank You

A beautifully designed and conceived book about the holy well of St Winifred, once known to everyone as "the Lourdes of Wales". Shaffer's search began in 2004 in a riverside park in Hudson, NY when he found a postcard showing a statue of a saint, "gazing laconically upriver, in the general direction of Albany". It took him to Wales, to discover the story of how in 1904 a family spent much of their fortune trying to protect the well from new drainage plans, and ultimately it took him into the heart of the Halkyn mountain, to a seemingly bottomless lake, from which the well springs. This would be a wonderful gift for anyone who loves sacred places, and wants to know the stories behind and beneath them.