Bed and breakfast availability
Holywell b&b, guesthouse and hotel accommodation

Visit Holywell and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Holywell, Flintshire, is Treffynnon in Welsh. On his scroll-map of the district, John Ogilby, the l7^th century surveyor of the road-systems of Britain, finds nothing more to say of Holywell than “Lead Mines”. By way of after-thought, he puts “Sea”, to mark how Holywell stands at the end of the route from Llyn Tegid, or Bala Lake. Earlier travellers, Gerald de Barn among them, made little note of the place except as a kind of adjunct of St Asaph or Basingwerk Abbey. It is now an industrial town with a wide main street; but it maintains the very ancient tradition of the healing well from which it has its name.

This was included among the traditional Seven Wonders of Wales, and was most probably one of the reasons why both pagan interest and Christian sanctity were centred upon the region. It is now named after a St Winefride or Winifred, earlier known as Gwenfrewi, celebrated in the 7^th century for having defended her virginity from a certain Caradoc, who cut off her head, the holy spring gushing from the ground where her body fell. The most remarkable thing was that her uncle, St Beuno, himself widely remembered by churches throughout Lleyn, was able to reunite the head with her body, so that she later became Abbess of Gwytherin, near Llanrwst. Some Celtic and pagan myth concerned with the life-giving waters that sprang from earth has been received into the record of the Celtic Church, and has passed into a modern sanctity. The Catholic community honours the place as it does Lourdes, and for the same healing qualities. The church is of Norman and Early English style. The spring once flowed with a supply of 20 tons a minute; but the Halkin lead-mines tapped its source for drainage, and the water now comes through a disused shaft. But the water still keeps its qualities. The works of nature are a wonder in themselves, whatever man may do.

Nearby towns: Bagillt, Denbigh, Flint, Mold, Prestatyn, St Asaph

Nearby villages: Bodfari, Buckley, Caerwys, Caldy, Cilcain, Connahs Quay, Cwm, Frankby, Greasby, Greenfield, Halkyn, Heswall, Little Neston, Llanasa, Llandyrnog, Llannerch-y-Mor, Mostyn, Nannerch, Northop, Northop, Rhydymwyn, Talacre, Thurstaston, Tremeirchion, West Kirby, Whitford, Wirral, Woodchurch

Have you decided to visit Holywell or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:

• a Holywell bed and breakfast (a Holywell B&B or Holywell b and b)
• a Holywell guesthouse
• a Holywell hotel (or motel)
• a Holywell self-catering establishment, or
• other Holywell accommodation