Custom · Little Walsingham
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Bare knee, wet wrists, and a wish you must never tell.
See it clearly
Walsingham Abbey grounds are privately owned and usually open for an admission charge. FAILED FETCH of the official site, so check before you go.
Kneel between the wells, hands in to the wrist, and wish in silence. Tell anyone, and it's gone.
Among the ruins of Walsingham Priory, England's greatest medieval shrine of the Virgin Mary, are two small round stone basins. Glyde says that in Erasmus's time their water was believed to cure headaches and stomach complaints. By the nineteenth century it had a new power and could grant any wish. The pilgrim had to kneel on a stone between the wells with the right knee bare, plunge both bare hands into the water up to the wrist and make a silent wish. They then drank as much water as they could hold in their hands. The wish had to stay secret forever.