Water Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain's Holiest Places


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Britain is home to many of the most beautiful holy places in the world.

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Our religious heritage and architecture is more varied

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than virtually anywhere else on earth.

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My name is Ifor ap Glyn and I am on a journey to explore the best of Britain's holy sites

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and to uncover the rich and diverse history of our spiritual landscape.

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I want to know how these places came to be,

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discover what they reveal about the people who worshipped at them,

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'and explore why they continue to fascinate us today.'

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This place is incredible.

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'My journey will take me to towering mountain hideaways...'

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It was here that St Twrog took on the pagan forces of evil.

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'..icy healing pools...'

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I'm not sure what effect this is having on me,

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but it is certainly having an effect!

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'..and the graves of long-departed saints...'

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There's something quite unsettling about this relic.

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'I'll search out islands where the faithful seek refuge from the world.

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'I'll wander ruins steeped in history...'

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His congregation were roused to come here

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and rip down the rich trappings of this cathedral.

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'..and descend into caves which have been sacred for thousands of years.'

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Wow!

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From the divine to the unexpected, join me on a journey

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to the unforgettable corners of our country,

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the landscapes that make the soul soar.

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Until about 20 years ago, we were all happy enough drinking tap water,

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but nowadays millions of us will pay a pound or more a time to drink

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this stuff - "natural spring water".

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Now, what's all that about?

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Has our modern world become so contaminated that we really think that this stuff

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is better for us, that "original spa water" or whatever is somehow the real thing -

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even if it comes in a plastic bottle?

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It turns out that it's not such a new-fangled idea at all

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and I'm off to discover how this yearning for pure, natural water

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has always been bound up with our spiritual beliefs.

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I'm going on a journey to try and find out why it is that water crops up again

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and again as the essential element in some of our holiest places.

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My journey starts above the Conwy Valley near my home in north Wales.

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Set amid this glorious landscape is a tiny church.

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And in the corner of the churchyard is a well where

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a superstitious healing ritual persisted for hundreds of years.

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We don't know when it started, but there is a long tradition

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of desperate parents carrying their sick or dying children

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all the way up these rugged hills to this remote spot.

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Today the well is overflowing following the recent rain,

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but you can still easily discern

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the surround of the well beneath the water

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and there's something quite moving about the size of it.

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It's small, it's child-sized,

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and you can easily imagine desperate

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parents bringing their sick children here in the hope of a cure.

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What would happen is they would come here

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either first thing in the morning

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or last thing at night. They would immerse the sick child in the well,

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and then wrap them in a blanket

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and take them to a nearby farmhouse to sleep.

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In the meantime, they would then take the child's clothes and put them in the well.

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It was believed that if the clothes floated, then the child would make a full recovery.

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But if the clothes sank, the outlook was bleak.

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The current church at Llangelynnin dates from the 12th century.

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But there's been a church here in some form

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since a saint called Celynin first came here in the 6th century.

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The holy well has been part of local folklore for centuries with

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the first written reference to the healing ritual

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appearing in a local history journal in 1867.

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The well was still in use at the turn of the 20th century.

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There is evidence of an inn next to the church which suggests

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that people visited here in significant numbers.

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It must have been a welcome sight after a gruelling four-mile trek

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up into the hills from the nearest town carrying a sick child.

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Nowadays the church at Llangelynnin is only used for three services a year.

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But then it's always been a marginal kind of place,

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standing as it does between the world of agriculture

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and the wilderness of the mountain, and as the population has receded

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back into the valley below, the church and the well at Llangelynnin

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have been "left behind", as it were - society's moved on.

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These days we put our faith in modern medicines and the NHS -

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but we can still sympathise with the yearnings of the parents of the past who came here.

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And maybe that's what draws us here still.

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The fact that there's a history of hope here,

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hope that was invested in the primal powers of water,

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and that appeals to something very deep within us.

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From Wales I'm heading north - to the Scottish Highlands

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and a place where water played a dramatic

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and turbulent part in our spiritual history.

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1,500 years ago this area was a battleground for the soul

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of Scotland, and in the process a legend was born that is now

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known all over the world.

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My destination is Castle Urquhart on the shores of Loch Ness, site

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of the first recorded encounter with the fabled monster in the late 500s.

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For the people of the early mediaeval period,

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the whole of nature seemed to be imbued with spiritual powers,

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and so trees, mountains and particularly water became a kind of elemental battleground

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between the Christians and the pagans

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as they sought to capture the hearts and minds of the people.

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As to what exactly the pagans believed about water

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we can't be too sure, because they left no records of their own

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and of course history is written by the conqueror -

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in this case, the Roman invaders that came here to begin with,

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and then subsequently the Christian missionaries.

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But we do know what one of those Christian missionaries,

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St Columba, got up to when he first came to this spot,

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thanks to a monk called Adomnan who wrote a chronicle of Columba's

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life at the end of the 7th century.

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The legend as recoded by Adomnan is

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that in the 6th Century, St Columba travelled over from his native

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Ireland to save the souls of the heathen Scots.

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He arrived to find a population in thrall to pagan gods

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and living in terror of a fearsome beast that lurked in the depths.

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To enter the water was considered certain death.

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Never one to turn down a challenge, Saint Columba

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commanded one of his men to swim across the waters - and almost

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immediately the monster reappeared, swimming swiftly towards its victim.

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Everyone was terrified, but not Saint Columba.

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When the monster was but a spear's length away from its intended victim,

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he made the sign of the cross and commanded the monster to go back.

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Which is what he did.

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Terrified by the sound of the saint's voice,

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he fled more quickly than if he had been pulled back by ropes.

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And that is reputed to be the first sighting of the Loch Ness monster.

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Whether fact or folklore, the stories of this

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and other miracles performed by Columba found a willing audience.

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St Columba was shrewd.

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According to another story, when he came across

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pagans worshipping at a poisonous well, instead of destroying it,

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he simply purified its waters and claimed it for his own faith.

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Rather than destroying the old symbols of paganism,

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Christianity simply subsumed them.

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This previously pagan landscape was overwritten with a new Christian

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narrative, and water was central to that new narrative because

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not only did missionaries like St Columba miraculously

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purify water, they also used it to symbolically purify their converts

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in one of the rituals that is central to the Christian tradition.

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I want to understand the scale of the conversions

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that the missionaries undertook...

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..so I'm heading to Holystone in Northumberland, home to Lady's Well,

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one of the oldest surviving baptismal pools in the world.

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This remarkable spot can trace its origins back to late Roman times,

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and lays claim to being the most important place

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in the history of early Christianity in the Scottish borders.

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I certainly can't find the source. The outflow is there.

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My guide is Nick Mayhew Smith, a lay minister and author

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who has studied the significance of the Holystone site.

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Tell me then, what's so special about this pool?

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Well, this might be the oldest sacred pool in Britain.

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-Really?

-Yeah.

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There's evidence that it's linked to Roman-era Christianity

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for two reasons.

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First is it's got an apse shape at the far end,

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which is a traditional shape for a Roman ceremonial building or space.

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The second thing is a Roman road used to run directly

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-alongside this part of the pool.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

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So what other traditions are there, to...

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That attest to its use in that early period?

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Well, there's a very early tradition

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that St Ninian came here

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and converted the people north

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of the border of the Roman Empire.

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He was active in the early 5th century so the time

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that the Roman Empire was falling in on itself,

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and the Romans left Britain for the last time in 410 AD.

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So round that period, the last flourish of Roman Christianity

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was pushing the faith north of the borders of the empire.

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I don't think I've ever seen one quite as big as this.

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Well, if you had a large number of people to convert as St Ninian

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no doubt did, you'd probably need as much space as you could get.

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I'm sure the mass baptisms would have taken several days to perform.

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And also the early baptismal rite would require

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quite a lot of outdoor water.

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The notion of full immersion would no doubt have struck the pagan

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tribes as a strange rite of passage.

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But it was introduced to them by a missionary from the Roman Empire,

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a superior society with advanced technologies.

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Baptism provided a psychologically compelling route into this

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new way of living as the old life was metaphorically washed away.

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So this place could be the birthplace of Christianity in the Border region?

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Yes. This is where the border country can claim it was first baptised.

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The little dab of warm water that we now give to

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an infant in our church is a descendant of the ritual.

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But when you look at a place like this, you realise just how primal

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and how psychological the whole rebirth experience would be out here in creation

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with this beautiful natural chapel of trees closing in over the scared space below.

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I'd like to try and understand what this ritual

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would have entailed, and Nick has offered to show me.

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Much as I'd like to get into the pool, it's now a protected site

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and we're not allowed to disturb the water.

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These days, it seems, we are encouraged to look

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but not touch when it comes to our spiritual heritage.

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However, as Nick explains, this will at least save my modesty

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and your blushes.

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So if we were doing this in a really authentic Roman manner

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you would now be naked

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-and indeed you would have even had to take your wedding ring off for this.

-Really?

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As a sign that you've divested yourself of your past sinful life

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and you are about to enter the healing waters of baptism and be born again.

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I'll ask you to kneel, and then I'll scoop up water

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and pour it over your head three times

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and each time I'll ask you part of a creed,

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"do you believe in the Father, the do you believe in the Son, do you believe in the Holy Spirit?"

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It'll be in Latin,

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-but when I pause, you'll know to answer "I believe" or in Latin...

-Credo.

-.."credo".

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-So if you'd like to kneel...

-Right.

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It's been years, if not centuries,

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since there's been a full baptism at this pool.

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Nowadays, holy sites like this are protected and conserved,

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rather than used.

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It's a shame. Full immersion in this freezing water

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would be a incredible experience.

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Even so, just to hear the Latin creed echoing around the pool

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in the same way it would have done for whole tribes of Picts

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1,500 years ago, is inspiring.

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And that is you baptised.

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Thank you.

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My pleasure.

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Discovering one of the world's oldest baptismal pools

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situated in a field in Northumberland is one thing,

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but the next stop on my watery pilgrimage is even more striking.

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I'm in the town of Holywell in Flintshire,

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home to a healing pool whose history stretches back

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to the 7th century, making it 1,000 years older than Lourdes in France.

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The site attracts 30,000 visitors a year from across the globe.

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So, how did this small site near the Welsh border

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acquire such world-wide prominence?

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'It's all down to the legend of a woman called Winifred,

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'a woman who was determined not to give up her chastity without a fight.'

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Gwenffrewi or "Winifred" in English, was a young woman of the 7th century

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who had already decided to devote her life to a life of chastity.

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But one day, a local nobleman called Caradog

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decided he wanted to have his evil way with her,

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and when she repelled his advances and ran for sanctuary to her

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uncle's church, Caradog pursued her and cut off her head with his sword.

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Her head fell at that very spot there and immediately

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a well gushed forth miraculously.

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Her uncle Beuno, hearing the commotion, rushed out of his church

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and by a second miracle, re-attached her head to her body.

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And if you look at her statue, you can still see the circular scar

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around her neck. And thus was established, in some style,

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this place's reputation for miraculous cures.

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Now, that might seem a far-fetched tale,

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but it has stood the test of time.

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Visitors to the site have included Richard the Lionheart,

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Queen Victoria, and King Leopold of Belgium.

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The building that stands over the pool was reputedly built

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by Henry VIII's grandmother, and it may have been this

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royal connection which saved it from destruction during the Reformation.

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Whilst Henry was happy to risk war with the Catholic Kings of Europe

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and even ex-communication by the Pope himself,

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he was not prepared to upset his dear old gran.

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If it's good enough for the crowned heads of Europe,

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maybe it's time for me to take the plunge

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and find out what the restorative powers of this pool can do.

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And what a prospect!

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It's November, the leaves have fallen and rain is on its way.

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This may indeed take some kind of leap of faith.

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It's cold.

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I'm not sure exactly what effect this is having,

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but it's certainly having an effect.

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So far, the only thing I can say for certain is that

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it has totally cured me of being warm!

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Well, I'm sure that the water has a purifying effect.

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But perhaps even more than that, is the effect of the cold.

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Because obviously it wouldn't be seemly to warm up a bit

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by doing a front crawl up and down the pool.

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And so you have to suffer a little bit

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and, erm, there's something quite...uplifting about that.

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Others profess the effect to have been far more pronounced.

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Life-changing, even.

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I'm meeting Lolita l'Aiguille

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who now helps run the well's information centre.

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The discarded crutches belong to those who claim to have been healed

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after plunging into the sacred pool.

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Just as Lolita says SHE was after her first visit.

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What brought you to Holywell in the first place?

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Illness. Looking for healing.

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I had thyroid, I had a lump that needed to be removed.

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And I also had a hip inflammation, the bones,

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because I suffer from osteoporosis.

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I didn't realise what it was all about until I arrived on Saturday morning.

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And fully dressed, no changing clothes, just fully dressed as I was,

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I went into the well, I laid into it.

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And I asked her, "Help me." I didn't even have time to pray.

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When you're actually in agonising pain, you don't think about prayers.

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You just ask for help.

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I said, "Please help me." And I stayed in there for a few minutes.

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About five minutes or more. And I came out like I was in a trance.

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I could see people, I could hear them.

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I could see them looking at me down in the well, in the water.

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They were looking at me down in the water.

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And I walked out of there with no pain.

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And I had to go back to the doctor that next morning,

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thinking, "Oh, how embarrassing, I'm having to go to the doctor

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"saying I have no pain. He's going to think I made it all up."

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So they took the blood tests for my thyroid. That was cleared,

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the lump had gone, I'd had no op.

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And they just said they had no explanation and if I had no pain,

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then you don't need any painkillers. And I've been like this ever since.

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Lolita is not alone in claiming a miracle cure

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from her time in the pool.

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Carved into the walls of the shrine are names stretching back

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hundreds of years. Names of those who have put their faith

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in the goodness and chastity of St Winifred.

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The final part of the tradition here at Holywell is to bottle

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some of the water to sustain you on your journey.

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Now, it may seem slightly peculiar to take a plastic bottle

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and to fill it with holy water, in order that you can take it away

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and drink it at home.

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But believe it or not, we've all done this.

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Or at least, we have done indirectly.

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30 years ago, buying water like this would have seemed

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faintly ridiculous.

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Paying for something that you can get for next to nothing

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from every tap in the land.

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But with this brand, it turns out that's not as mad as it seems.

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-60, one pound.

-Thanks very much.

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This water has a sacred pedigree longer even than that of Holywell.

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I'm in Derbyshire heading for the source of this water.

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The setting for Buxton Spring

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does not at first seem obviously spiritual.

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Rather than an ancient chapel or shrine, the water arrives

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at the surface through a brass fountain on a street corner

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in the centre of the town.

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But this unprepossessing setting masks a long and proud spiritual history.

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Buxton Spring delivers over one million litres of water a day.

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It comes up over half a mile from the rocks beneath,

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and in fact this water is thought to have fallen as rain

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the best part of 5,000 years ago.

0:23:100:23:13

This spring was known to the Celts.

0:23:130:23:15

It was dedicated to the goddess Arnemetia,

0:23:150:23:17

The Romans then appropriated it and called it Aquae Arnemetiae.

0:23:170:23:23

Then in Mediaeval times, the Christians appropriated it.

0:23:230:23:26

It was dedicated to Saint Ann. After the Reformation,

0:23:260:23:30

this spring became the focus for a spa town.

0:23:300:23:34

All these buildings grew up around it, the pump room next door.

0:23:340:23:38

In its most recent reincarnation, Buxton water has become a major brand.

0:23:380:23:43

The bottling rights have been acquired

0:23:430:23:45

by a major multi-national company and there's a huge bottling plant

0:23:450:23:49

just over the other side of the hill.

0:23:490:23:51

But the canny locals still come here to fill up for free.

0:23:510:23:56

Because this is exactly the same stuff.

0:23:560:23:58

Nothing is more fundamental to life than water.

0:24:030:24:07

Before utility companies and sewage works, springs became holy,

0:24:070:24:11

because they were guaranteed sources of pure water.

0:24:110:24:15

They were life-giving in the most literal sense.

0:24:150:24:18

Despite the advances of modern life,

0:24:190:24:22

many of us would still rather drink bottled water

0:24:220:24:24

than trust what is coming out of the tap.

0:24:240:24:27

We crave exactly what our forefathers held dear,

0:24:270:24:30

something purer, something life-giving.

0:24:300:24:34

People have been taking the waters here for thousands of years.

0:24:370:24:41

It's an act of faith.

0:24:410:24:43

These days, we take it in a plastic bottle and we drink it,

0:24:430:24:47

thinking that it's purer than what we can get out of our taps.

0:24:470:24:50

But indeed, that's just as much of an act of faith

0:24:500:24:53

as people who in former eras have turned to water

0:24:530:24:57

as an agent of spiritual rebirth,

0:24:570:25:00

or turned to it for its healing properties

0:25:000:25:02

when they felt that all other hope had gone.

0:25:020:25:06

Holy water, we believe, can make us healthy.

0:25:060:25:09

Be that spiritually or physically.

0:25:090:25:12

"Holy" and "wholesome" are two words that share the same root,

0:25:120:25:14

so holiness and healthiness are in fact not that far removed from each other.

0:25:140:25:18

But there is one other way in which water has shaped

0:25:180:25:22

and defined our spiritual history.

0:25:220:25:24

From Derbyshire, I'm travelling south to Essex.

0:25:300:25:34

But in a way, I'm actually going back to where I began.

0:25:360:25:39

My journey started by the sea and now it's ending back by the sea.

0:25:410:25:47

Britain is an island nation and long before we had a network

0:25:510:25:55

of trains and motorways, water was the easiest way to travel.

0:25:550:25:59

My final stop is a remarkable church in Essex.

0:26:030:26:06

This lonely sentinel on the coast at Bradwell-on-Sea

0:26:080:26:12

marks the point where Christianity first arrived

0:26:120:26:14

in this part of the country.

0:26:140:26:16

And it's one of the oldest churches in the land.

0:26:180:26:21

This is St Peter's. It was built in 654,

0:26:230:26:27

using materials from an earlier Roman fort.

0:26:270:26:29

And its coastal location is key,

0:26:290:26:32

because for the seafaring monks of the 7th century,

0:26:320:26:35

that was the surest way to carry the Gospel

0:26:350:26:38

around the island of Britain.

0:26:380:26:40

Wow.

0:26:500:26:51

This place is incredible!

0:27:090:27:11

This church has a unique atmosphere.

0:27:160:27:18

It is simple, peaceful,

0:27:190:27:22

and its antiquity seems to seep out of the very walls of the place.

0:27:220:27:26

It was built by St Cedd, a Celtic missionary who travelled

0:27:280:27:31

around the coast of Britain, spreading Christianity in the south.

0:27:310:27:35

Bradwell was once a gateway for a new belief system

0:27:380:27:41

which arrived from across the water, to change our society for ever.

0:27:410:27:46

Now, it's a forgotten place on the margins of the country.

0:27:470:27:51

The sea has always been a powerful metaphor

0:27:540:27:56

within the Christian tradition.

0:27:560:27:58

Its turbulence and unpredictability mirror our own lives.

0:27:580:28:02

But here, the sea is the reason for the existence

0:28:020:28:06

of this fantastically atmospheric church.

0:28:060:28:08

You don't need to be a believer to fall for the simple peace

0:28:100:28:13

and calm of this place.

0:28:130:28:15

Like the sea that surrounds it,

0:28:170:28:19

Bradwell's appeal is timeless, universal.

0:28:190:28:23

Making this the perfect place for my watery pilgrimage to end.

0:28:230:28:27

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