Holy Wells in Cornwall.

 Many years ago, when I was surveying the Camel Trail for the Council, I came across a spring in a rocky outcrop near Bodmin. A plaque named it Scarlett's Well and its magical waters were claimed to cure stomach and other ailments.

One of four sacred wells in Bodmin, this rather unlovely well looks as if it's surrounded by breeze blocks but they are in fact granite.

 A strong flow of clear water gushes out among the stones and runs away under the dead autumn leaves to join a stream from Bodmin running north to join the Camel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It struck me that this water issuing from the rock would be pure and uncontaminated and so the local people who could have been drinking polluted water with a resulting history of stomach complaints could have their symptoms alleviated if they drank the pure  spring water. In time this little understood effect would be attributed to mystical properties and accordingly venerated.

When the country was converted to Christianity, these springs would be claimed to be Holy rather than attempts to ban the earlier beliefs. Holy Wells occur all over Cornwall and elsewhere, and are frequently dedicated to saints.

Some are still marked by their later Medieval protective stonework, others have reverted to almost invisible trickles, their past significance lost apart from their enduring name.

The water supply for the Saxon town of Kelliwig, now our nearest town, Callington, was from Our Lady's Well (now known as the Pipewell) The water is reached by a few stone steps down to a stone-lined tank fed from a pipe, and protected by a small stone well-head (built in 1816) and a railing.

The Pipewell in Well Street, Callington

The explanatory plaque.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nearby hamlet, called Frogwell, getting its water and name from the sacred well, has no such structure. It is these days just a weed-hidden spring by the road.

Dupath Well a little to the South of Callington is a handsome medieval well-house or chapel, erected in the early fifteen hundreds by the Canons of St German's and dedicated to St Ethelred the King of Mercia who died in 709. After the reformation when the cult of worshipping at these wells was abandoned, the structures marking the wells were usually allowed to decay until their significance was again recognised and many were restored in a gothic style in Victorian times. The original stones were used when possible but we can only guess how accurate these restorations are.

 

 

The handsome well-house or chapel at Dupath. Inside, it has a corbelled roof of big granite slabs.

Dupath Well.

The sacred water, claimed to cure whooping cough, runs from a spring, into the cistern within the well-house and the overflow runs into the little trough outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Mallett's Well

The most enduring of the Holy Wells had post-pagan stone constructions to mark the springs of sacred water, otherwise they tend to disappear in overgrown  weeds and bushes. 

 The remains of this well outside Stoke Climsland, has been smothered by a conifer plantation.  We thrashed our way though overgrown vegetation and the branches of a fallen tree a few days ago but failed to find any signs.Yet a lady who has lived in the parish for ninety years remembers when she was a girl, the annual ceremony of 'Well Dressing' when the young girls of the parish processed to the well and laid posies of flowers around it. The then Canon of the parish church banned the ceremony as 'pagan'.

Nearby Rezare Holy Well shows signs of sporadic care although at present the fence is broken and there are some fine dandelions growing among the ornamental plant pots.

St Mellors Well is a handsome well in a patch of wet woodland a little to the south of the parish church of Linkinhorne. It was constructed in the fifteen hundreds and dedicated to the youthful St Mellor who was maimed and then beheaded for his beliefs as a boy in Brittany in the 8th Century.

This well-house also has a granite corbelled roof.

The interior. The 18 -inches deep clear water was used in baptisms but traditionally it was claimed to cure sprains in horses' legs. The cold water I suppose was the ancient equivalent of our ice packs.

There are niches in the walls perhaps for candles and effigies.

The Holy Well of St David at Davidstow has already been mentioned in my blog about the source of the River Inny a few weeks ago. St David was the son of St Non, the Irish nun who came to Cornwall and is dedicated in the church at Altarnun.The  pure water from this well is claimed to be used in the manufacture of cheese in the nearby factory, but I can hardly believe this supply would sustain the need for the huge gallonage used in the routine cleaning of a large creamery!

 St Cleer Holy Well

This handsome well house in the middle of the village was originally built in the 15th Century but abandoned and fell into ruin until it was restored in Victorian times. The sacred spring is dedicated to St Clarus, an 8th Century English saint who eventually died in Normandy. Alongside this building is a Christian (not Celtic) stone cross thought to be the same age, perhaps erected to lend validity to the Christian connection of the Holy Well.

 

It was a ducking well in which people with Rickets, Epilepsy and insanity were repeatedly immersed to cure them. A possible version of our Electric- shock treatment? Although I'd have thought the effectiveness was dubious especially in cases of diet-caused Rickets!

I understand that local children still take part in the annual well-dressing here on May 25th.

 

St Keyne Holy Well 

Constructed in the side of a slope from which several springs erupt, this well is a mile or two south of St Keyne village.

The well house was built in the 15th Century and restored by the Old Cornwall Society in 1936. It is dedicated to the hermit St Keyna, one of the many sons and daughters of the Welsh King Brychan, who travelled from Wales to Cornwall as missionaries in the 500's AD

It was claimed that the first member of a newly-wed couple to reach the well and drink the water, would be the dominant partner in the marriage!

St Cleder's Well.

A couple of days ago we walked up the Inny valley from St Clether's Church for about half a mile. The hillsides were russet-coloured as the bracken died back and robins' sweet winter songs were trilled all the way.

As the mist dissipated, the spiders' webs shone with the remaining water vapour and the pungent smell of a fox lingered in the chiily air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Someone had obligingly mown the grass surrounding the chapel no more than a day ago

Looking from the  west. This sturdy building ,originally used as the Parish Church of St Clether, until another Parish Church nearer the village, was built in the 13th Century. The chapel was re-built in the 15th Century but then fell into decay until it was again re-built in 1895. The roof was rebuilt once more, a few years ago..

 

 

 

 

 

St Cleder, one of the sons of King Brychan who ruled in part of South Wales, came to this spring as an old man and made his hermitage here . He set up the massive granite altar, which now stands in the adjacent chapel.He died in about 550.

 The Holy Well of St Cleder. Just to the north of the chapel, a  clear  spring of water issues from the hole in the bottom back corner of the trough, and the overflow runs through a pipe into another trough inside the chapel next to the altar, and then out again through the south wall to another healing well before running away down the valleyside to join the River Inny below.

 The massive granite altar below which are buried the bones of the saint. The water from the well flows over these bones and into the troughs before it runs away outside. It is said to have powers of healing.

 

 

 

The dipping well built into the south wall of the chapel takes the water from the trough inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The well and chapel are on private land but open to the public and are lovingly maintained by the owner and a supporting group.

As we walked back to the car we were watched by a young female Kestrel who flew down from their regular nest site among the rocky outcrops of rock above the chapel and perched on the electricity line which runs through the valley.

 

 

Lost or at any rate, apparently un-documented?

 When walking in a fairly remote area of Bodmin Moor with the children some forty or more years ago, we came upon the dramatic spring near Rusheyford. It lies between the abandoned little farmstead of Rusheyford Gate, and the complicated remains of the medieval village of Trewartha  with traces of tracks leading among little houses and enclosures.

Was this generous spring the water supply for these settlements?

There is no sign of any stone surrounds, just a deep pool of crystal-clear water bubbling  and erupting up from the bed of granite gravel some two feet down. We stood at the rushy margin, looking in when Tony dropped his camera into the water! So we have no pictures. If I was fanciful I'd say the spirits of the spring didn't want it to be seen. But I will spoil the end of the story because, if the spirits were malign, the camera was ruined, but if they were healing, the camera would have dried out safely. And I can't remember!!

Surprisingly, despite the size of the spring and its site, I can find no reference to it either as a water source or any sacred properties.

There are many more Sacred Springs in Cornwall, many now overgrown or obliterated, inaccessible and forgotten. In any case, too many for a short piece such as this.