Earlier this week, whilst visiting St. Austell, I was taken to a hidden location that I had not visited in almost a decade of rambling in the area: Menacuddle Holy Well. It rests right next to the Bodmin road and the total area is (based on my complete guesstimate) less than that of a football field. However, within this restricted confined space, a whole little world thrives; a true undiscovered country of the nearby.

A recent article in Cornwall Live celebrates the revival of Menacuddle Gardens to the wider public, outlining the fantastic efforts of a group of volunteers over the past couple of years. The article outlines the history of the location:

In Celtic times there was a well nearby which ran into the settlement known as Trenars-Austol. It provided the community with fresh drinking water and was supposed to have healing and magical powers.

The small chapel pictured (probably the smallest I have stepped inside before) is estimated to have been built around the 14th century, serving as a baptistery. The area appears to have been restored after the First World War War by Admiral Sir Charles John Graves-Sawle in memory of his fallen son; after this point, the area was donated to the public.

The Wikipedia entry outlines a couple of related myths: how a drop of a pin into the well can grant a wish, and how the woods are haunted by a ‘big black beast’. However, I did not have a pin on me on my visit, and nor did I spot a beast!