Shrewsbury Abbey, Shrewsbury

The Abbesses’ Way leads modern pilgrims here from Much Wenlock

Highlights

• Remains of St Winefride’s shrine
• Norman abbey buildings
• Relic of St Winefride (not on display, in Catholic cathedral)

St Winefride has inspired pilgrims like no other British saint. Holywell in North Wales is the country’s most enduring shrine, the site of her martyrdom. At Shrewsbury, the arrival of her relics transformed this abbey into one of the most important and wealthiest in the land.

Today part of the abbey serves as the parish church, though much of the monastery ruins disappeared following the construction of the A458. Thankfully, a small piece of the saint’s shrine has survived both Reformation and roadworks and is on display in the church nave.

A sign in the church says this fragment is either part of her medieval shrine or part of the church’s reredos. Either way, it dates from the 14th century and is closely associated with her veneration. The middle figure is clearly a woman, probably St Winefride herself.

The good-natured attendants on the day of our visit were unsure whether this shrine fragment was even in their church. But it is easy to locate, halfway down the nave in the left-hand aisle with a large sign next to it. Icons have been added to this devotional space since my visit.

The blackened stone panel consists of three effigies in a row. The figures on either side of St Winefride are usually identified as St John the Baptist on the left and St Beuno, her uncle, whose prayers resurrected her. A window above commemorates St Winefride, installed in 1992. Most of the church fabric is a Victorian reconstruction, built around the skeleton of a once-mighty Norman structure.

When the monks of Shrewsbury decided to find an important patron, St Winefride was an obvious candidate. Holywell is 40 miles away, its relative proximity illustrated by the fact that Henry V and Edward VI walked barefoot between these two places. Both sites are now visited by the St Winefride Pilgrim Trail.

The abbey acquired the relics in 1138 from the remote village of Gwytherin in Wales, where St Winefride founded a nunnery sometime in the 7th century. She was already famous because of miracles at Holywell. Because of her resurrection, St Winefride has two major festivals marking her twin deaths. Her martyrdom at Holywell took place on 22 June, and her natural death in Gwytherin around 20 years later is remembered on 3 November.

Shrewsbury’s saintly bones and ambitious monks are the inspiration for the Brother Cadfael series of books by Ellis Peters. Her shrine is what is technically known as a second-class relic, holy because it was once in contact with her body. There is, however, part of St Winefride’s actual finger bone in Shrewsbury. The Catholic cathedral is a short walk back into town from the abbey and keeps the relic locked in a safe. It is only produced on the saint’s days and a few other special occasions.

This cathedral has a colourful and brightly lit interior, hidden behind a fairly conventional exterior. It was designed by the Victorian architect Edward Pugin, son and heir to the famous Augustus.

Directions

Shrewsbury Abbey parish church, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 6BS

www.shrewsburyabbey.com

W3W: pans.jams.nation

GPS: 52.7075N 2.7442W

Shrewsbury RC Cathedral, Cathedral House, 11 Belmont, Shrewsbury SY1 1TE

www.shrewsburycathedral.org

W3W: hired.city.tour

GPS: 52.7052N 2.7539W

Shrewsbury railway station 1km to the abbey

Shrewsbury Abbey is on the west side of town, just off the A458. As you head out of town, cross the River Severn over the English Bridge, and the abbey is straight ahead. It is usually open daily, summer 10am–4pm, winter 10:30am–3pm.

The Catholic cathedral is nearer the town centre, on a road called Town Walls, which is also the A458.