St Oswald’s Holy Well, Winwick

St Oswald’s Well is Grade II listed and can be found a mile north of St Oswald’s Church, Winwick in a field beside the A573. According to Henry Taylor in ‘The Ancient Crosses and Holy Wells of Lancashire’ (1906) “A writer in The Antiquary twenty years ago (vol.3, p.261) described it as having a very modest appearance for so famous a spot, looking merely like a hole into the hillside.  The writer goes on to say, “Passing through a small cottage garden, a well-trodden path leads to the well, which is merely a fosse, as described by Bede, and, situated as it is at the bottom of a tolerable declivity, derives its supply from the drainage of the upper ground rather than from any spring.  The water is not very bright, but the well is substantially walled inside, and two or three deeply worn steps lead to the water.”

“The Venerable Bede gives an account of numerous miracles which took place at St. Oswald’s Well.  He says: “After which period Oswald was killed in a great battle by the same Pagan nation and Pagan King of the Mercians who had slain his predecessor Edwin at a place called in the English tongue Maserfield in the 38th year of his age on the 5th day of the month of August.  How great his faith was towards God, and how remarkable his devotion, has been made evident by miracles since his death; for in the place where he was killed by the pagans…infirm men and cattle are healed to this day.  Whereupon many took up the very dust of the place where his body fell, and putting it into water did much good with it to their friends who were sick.  This custom came so much into use, that the earth being carried away by degrees, there remained a hole as deep as the height of a man… Many miracles are said to have been wrought in that place, or with the earth carried from thence; but we have thought it sufficient to mention two, which we heard from our ancestors.””