Holy Well, Sancreed

This ancient holy well once drew pilgrims into its irradiated depths, in sufficient numbers to justify a chapel building alongside, now in ruins

Highlights

• Underground holy well chamber

Glowing with green moss and moulded out of rough-hewn granite, this holy well draws you into the earth. We can only guess what miracles were sought from its embrace. As I emerged from its pitch-black pool and walked back up the stone steps into the light, it felt more like a rite of resurrection than baptism.

It is five minutes’ walk from the parish church but feels so secluded I had no hesitation in leaving my clothes at the top to experience the half-forgotten devotions of our Celtic ancestors. Treading delicately forward from the last step, my bare feet found the firm bottom of a shallow pool. Stepping beyond the stone ledge takes you down into the inky depths of a deeper chamber. Two feet of water gather here, a soft muddy bottom underfoot. It has twice the level of background radiation, but its real energy is unquantifiable, spiritual rather than atomic.

Up at ground level, rounded boulders are scattered everywhere the eye falls, alluding to further lost mysteries. A few meters away from the well, back along the footpath, are the ruins of a tiny building often described as a baptismal chapel. Only a crudely built end wall and some of the sides remain, perhaps dating from the 15th century. There is no water or well chamber here, which throws into doubt its description as a ‘Celtic baptistery’ by some guides. Any immersion would take place in the subterranean pool.

I’ve seen pictures showing the level of the well much lower, filling only the deeper chamber at the back of this well. It would still be suitable for immersion, should anyone else be willing. It is a place adopted, or perhaps re-adopted, by pagan-style beliefs. The trees above it are festooned with colourful cloutie rags in their hundreds. As I emerged from the water to this enchanted scene, I briefly wondered what other visitors would make of someone using the well as it was intended. I guess it would seem rather pagan to many Christians, and rather Christian to many pagans. Entirely Celtic, in other words.

The parish church is dedicated to St. Credan, with an alternate spelling of his name. There are five Celtic crosses around the churchyard, though nothing else remains of the earliest Christian settlement. St. Credan is mentioned by the 17th-century writer Nicholas Roscarrock in his Lives of the Saints. He records that St. Credan accidentally killed his father and spent the rest of his life in penance working as a simple swineherd. So exemplary was his behaviour, he became renowned as a holy man and was venerated as such after his death. More than that we do not know, but his saint’s day is celebrated on 11 May.

A vicar from the church in Sancreed rediscovered the holy well in 1879 and with the help of a local parishioner cleared and restored it. The footpath to the well starts opposite the churchyard entrance. A sign at the start of the path asks visitors to respect the historical value of the well and ‘leave this site unchanged’. The site was certainly unchanged – but I wasn’t.

Directions

Footpath to well starts outside St Creden’s Church, Sancreed TR20 8QS

www.achurchnearyou.com/church/2408

www.cornishancientsites.com

W3W: snow.rebel.farms

GPS: 50.1075N 5.6128W well

W3W: froth.curly.user

GPS: 50.1080N 5.6095W church

Park outside the church in the little village of Sancreed. The path to the holy well starts opposite the church, signed ‘public footpath’, with a red phone box beside it at the time of research. It takes less than five minutes to walk. There are signs pointing the way. The parish church is usually open during the day.