# Pantasaph > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Pantasaph > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Pantasaph.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantasaph > Source revision: 1296884961 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Village in Flintshire, Wales}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox UK place | country = Wales | welsh_name = | static_image = Farmland at Pantasaph - geograph.org.uk - 72220.jpg | static_image_caption = Farmland at Pantasaph | constituency_welsh_assembly = [Delyn](/source/Delyn_(Assembly_constituency)) | official_name = Pantasaph | population = | unitary_wales = [Flintshire](/source/Flintshire) | lieutenancy_wales = [Flintshire](/source/Flintshire) | constituency_westminster = [Clwyd East](/source/Clwyd_East_(UK_Parliament_constituency)){{cite web|title= Location of Clwyd East |url= https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/4509/location |website=parliament.uk|date=July 2024|access-date=20 April 2025}} | post_town = HOLYWELL | postcode_district = CH8 | postcode_area = CH | dial_code = 01352 | os_grid_reference = SJ161760 | coordinates = {{coord|53.274|-3.259|display=inline,title}} }} '''Pantasaph''' is a small village in [Flintshire](/source/Flintshire), north-east [Wales](/source/Wales), two miles south of [Holywell](/source/Holywell%2C_Flintshire) in the [community](/source/Community_(Wales)) of [Whitford](/source/Whitford%2C_Flintshire). Its name translates into English as Asaph's Hollow. == History == left|thumb|St Clares Court The abbey lands at one point belonged to the nearby [Basingwerk Abbey](/source/Basingwerk_Abbey). Pantasaph came into the possession of the Pennant family at the [Dissolution of the Monasteries](/source/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries). The land passed down in the family until 1846, when the sole heiress Louisa married [Rudolph, Viscount Feilding](/source/Rudolph_Feilding%2C_8th_Earl_of_Denbigh), heir to the 7th Earl of Denbigh. They both converted to [Roman Catholicism](/source/Roman_Catholicism) and decided to donate St David's Church, which they had recently built for Pantasaph, to the Catholic Church. This caused a considerably outcry at the time.{{Citation needed|date = March 2015}} It was accepted by the [Friars Minor Capuchin](/source/Friars_Minor_Capuchin) of Great Britain as their mother house and opened in 1852. The church was designed by [T H Wyatt](/source/Thomas_Henry_Wyatt) and modified, to make it more specifically suited to Catholic use, by [Augustus Pugin](/source/Augustus_Pugin), who designed the high altar, the pulpit, the baptismal font, the reredos in the Lady Chapel and a statue of the Madonna and Child. The altar, reredos and statue had been exhibited in the 'Mediaeval Court' at the [Great Exhibition](/source/Great_Exhibition) of 1851.{{cite web|url = http://www.pantasaph.org.uk/st_davids_church.html|title= A Brief History Of The Capuchins At Pantasaph And The Church Of St.David.|publisher= Pantasaph Franciscan Friary|access-date = 9 January 2014}} The pulpit was removed and destroyed during a post-Vatican II re-ordering in the 1960s. The graveyard holds the remains of three British soldiers shot for cowardice during [World War I](/source/World_War_I).{{Citation needed|date = March 2015}} From St David's Church and the Friary, the Capuchins went on to start [missions](/source/Christian_mission) in other places in North Wales that became churches in their own right, such as Immaculate Conception Church in [Flint](/source/Flint%2C_Flintshire) in 1854 and St Anthony of Padua Church in [Saltney](/source/Saltney) from 1862.{{Cite book |last=Pritchard |first=T. W. |author-link=Bill Pritchard (priest) |title=St Winefride, Her Holy Well and the Jesuit Mission, C.650 - 1930 |publisher=Bridge Books |year=2009 |isbn=978-1844940608 |pages=299}} The village is also the location of the former St Clare's Convent which included a boarding school, a hospital and an orphanage. It was built by a Father Seraphin of Bruges, who brought the first group of sisters to it in 1861. It closed in 1977, having at its peak housed some 500 orphans. The site lay derelict for a number of years and was damaged by fire in 1985, but has since been partly demolished and the remainder restored as luxury accommodation. It is now a designated conservation area.{{cite web|url=http://www.bracknellroofing.com/Case-studies/All-Case-Studies/St-Clares-Convent.aspx|title=St Clares Convent|access-date=10 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110091646/http://www.bracknellroofing.com/Case-studies/All-Case-Studies/St-Clares-Convent.aspx|archive-date=10 January 2014|url-status=dead}} The poet [Francis Thompson](/source/Francis_Thompson) spent some time recovering from illness at Pantasaph in the 1890s, lodging in a house beside the friary gates, at the post office and at Crecas Cottage between Pantasaph and [Carmel](/source/Carmel%2C_Flintshire). == Friary == thumb|left|St David's Friary Church The first friars occupied the original presbytery, (now called Denbigh House), designed by Wyatt as the vicarage to what was to be an Anglican church. Following the consecration of St David's church, the friary was constructed in Collegiate Gothic style between 1858 and 1865. A wing was added to the east in 1899 to form an L-shaped range with a turret in the angle. Built in two storeys with attics and basements it is constructed of snecked grey stone with sandstone dressings and steep slate roofs. St David's church and the friary complex have all been awarded grade II* listed status.{{cite web|url = http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-25241-franciscan-friary-whitford|title= Franciscan Friary, Whitford|publisher= British Listed Buildings|access-date = 9 January 2014}} The friary became a large [Franciscan](/source/Franciscan) [Retreat](/source/Retreat_(spiritual)) Centre, and the friars returned to live in Denbigh House, their original home at Pantasaph. The Retreat Centre closed in December 2017. On the wooded hill behind the complex a 19th-century zig-zag path links a landscaped [Lourdes Grotto](/source/Lourdes_Grotto) and [Stations of the Cross](/source/Stations_of_the_Cross) leading to a large [Calvary hill](/source/Calvary_hill) on the hilltop. An inscription at the site reads, "Special indulgences are granted by the [Holy See](/source/Holy_See) to all who shall devoutly visit this Calvary or make the Stations or who looking from a distance to this cross shall say a [Hail Mary](/source/Hail_Mary) for the conversion of England."[Jan Morris](/source/Jan_Morris) (1984), ''The Matter of Wales: Epic Views of a Small Country'', [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press). Page 103. The Stations of the Cross are listed as Grade II in the [Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales](/source/Cadw%2FICOMOS_Register_of_Parks_and_Gardens_of_Special_Historic_Interest_in_Wales).{{NHAW|num=PGW(C)40(FLT)|desc=Pantasaph|access-date=17 February 2023|uid=35|class=HPG}} The Friary gardens house the National [Padre Pio](/source/Pio_of_Pietrelcina) Centre. ==Friary and shrine== File:Divine_Mercy_Picture,_Pantasaph.jpg|Divine Mercy Picture, Pantasaph Friary File:Pantasaph.jpg|Pantasaph, The Friary. Hill top File:The_Friary,_Pantasaph,_Flintshire.jpg|The Friary, Pantasaph, 2019 File:St_Padre_Pio,_Pantasaph.jpg|St Padre Pio, Pantasaph == References == {{reflist}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Pantasaph}} * [https://pantasaph.org/ Pantasaph Friary site] {{Flintshire}} {{Franciscans in Britain}} {{authority control}} Category:Catholic Church in Wales Category:Catholic pilgrimage sites Category:Villages in Flintshire Category:Franciscan monasteries in Wales Category:Capuchin friaries in the United Kingdom Category:Registered historic parks and gardens in Flintshire Category:Roman Catholic shrines in the United Kingdom --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Pantasaph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantasaph) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantasaph?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.