Madron Well and Madron Well Chapel

Madron Well

Madron Well and Madron Well Chapel is a scheduled Ancient Monument situated in the civil parish of Madron, Cornwall, UK.

Madron Well Chapel (grid reference SW446328) is the ruin of 12th or 14th-century chapel dedicated to St Madern and occupies the site of a much older Celtic structure. Madron Well (grid reference SW445327) is a spring 200 m to the west. Clouties, or offerings, can be seen on the path to the chapel, near the holy well.

Location

The chapel and well are 1 mile to the north-west of the village of Madron and is within the civil parish of the same name.^[1]

History and description

The remains of Madron Well Chapel

The altar stone in the chapel

In 1846 the building's measurements were published in The Archaeological Journal and the roofless building’s internal measurements were 20 feet long by 10 feet wide, and the walls are 2 feet thick and 8 or 9 feet high.^[2]

Measurements published in The Cornishman newspaper of 15 May 1879 gave the external length as 25 feet by 16 feet breadth and the walls 2 feet thick. The granite altar stone is 5’ 10’’ long, 2’ 7’’ wide and stands 2’ 10’’ above the floor. There is a depression of 9 by 8 inches to contain the portable mensa for the celebration of mass.^[3] The altar appears to date from the first-half or middle of the 12th century as do the stone seats and chancel. There is no evidence for any part of the structure being older but the existing structure does suggest an early Christian foundation.^[2] The building was partially destroyed by Major Ceely, during the English Civil War.^[3] A stream flows through the building and until the 18th-century the well and stream was the only source of water for Madron and Penzance. The stream's course dictates the unusual placing of the entrance which is on the north wall instead of the normal, west of centre.^[4]

The chapel was first scheduled on 30 November 1926; it is currently scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 and is considered to be of national importance.^[5]

It is a classical site for the nationally scarce Cornish moneywort (Sibthorpia europaea).^[6]

Well

Clouties tied to a tree near Madron Well

The nearby Madron Well, which is now concealed in shrubs and undergrowth, is an example of a Cornish Celtic sacred site and is a ground level natural spring.^[4] The well is said to have healing properties and a 17th-century written account tells how, before 1641, John Trelille, a poor cripple, was cured here when he bathed in the water, then slept on a grassy hillock. The hillock was remade every year and was called St Maderne's bed.^[4] An old May Day tradition, which was still being observed in 1879, was for many young folks (mainly girls) to head from Penzance before sunrise, to perform a ceremony, to learn the number of years they have to wait before they get married. Two grass stems or straw, each about an inch long were fastened together with a pin and dropped into the water. Any rising bubbles denote the number of years before they get married. The ceremony was no longer held on May Day, but on a Sunday, because the girls work during the week.^[7] A tradition at this site persists to this day whereby people attach pieces of rag (clouties) to the nearby bushes as a symbol of appeasement to the spirits within the well (see also Clootie well) – according to a contemporary report in the The Cornishman newspaper that tradition was no longer carried out in 1879.^[7]

References