One of the most copious springs in Great Britain is the famed St.
Winifred’s well, near the town of Holywell, in Flintshire. The well is
an oblong square, about twelve feet by seven, and its water, say the
people of the district, has never been known to freeze. This latter
assertion may be true, as besides containing a fair percentage of
mineral matter that lowers its freezing point, the well is inside a
beautiful chapel, which was erected over it by Queen Margaret, the
mother of Henry VII. The water thrown up is not less than eighty-four
hogsheads every minute, and the quantity appears to vary very little
either in drouth or after the heaviest rain, showing doubtless that its
primitive sources are numerous and widely distributed. Sir Winifred’s
has been the object of many pilgrimages.