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<< Text Pages >> St Tecla's Chapel & Holy Well - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Gloucestershire

Submitted by Sunny100 on Monday, 10 May 2010  Page Views: 9355

Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: St Tecla's Chapel & Holy Well Alternative Name: St Treacla's Chapel & Holy Well; Chapel Rock (Beachley); St Twrog's Chapel
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 2.7 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Gloucestershire Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Chepstow  Nearest Village: Beachley
Map Ref: ST5484390020
Latitude: 51.607193N  Longitude: 2.653469W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Holy Well or Sacred Spring in Gloucestershire

St Tecla's Chapel stands on a small island in the Severn Estuary, 1 mile S of the village of Beachley, and close to the Severn Bridge. The chapel is a ruin today, but it was used for services, when the tide was out, up until at least the mid 16th century. It was certainly in use during the 14th century. However, due to it's situation out in the estuary it could only be reached, even then with difficulty, at low tide. It is very dangerous to try to reach the chapel without knowledge of tidal conditions. St Tecla's holy well or spring can be found within the ruins of the tiny chapel and was said to possess curative properties.

St Tecla, her name is variously spelt as Tecia or Treacla, was probably a 4th or 5th century anchoress who abandoned her father's home of splendour to live a Christian life. Her father, Requli or Reguli, was a Roman of some distinction from Gwynedd. However, St Tecla was murdered by pirates. She has other churches dedicated to her in Wales - usually spent Llandegley or similar. A small light house stands on the island.

For more information see Pastscape Monument No. 198740 and Historic England List ID 1348512, where this site is called St Twrog's Chapel. Pastscape tells us the chapel was first mentioned when a license was given in "1290 to Brother John Sterre, a Benedictine monk, to officiate in the chapel of St. Tryak of Beachley", adding that all that remains of the chapel today: "consists of one arch on a rock used for navigation light. Grade 3".

The Journal of Antiquities also includes a page for this chapel and well - see their entry for St Tecla’s Chapel, Beachley, Gloucestershire, which includes a description of the site, a photograph and background information about St Tecla.
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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
ST5490 : Chapel Rock From Beachley Point by Chris Andrews
by Chris Andrews
©2021(licence)
ST5490 : Chapel Rock by Jonathan Billinger
by Jonathan Billinger
©2013(licence)
ST5489 : Chapel Rock and remains of St Twrog's Chapel by Gareth James
by Gareth James
©2023(licence)
ST5490 : Beachley Point and light by Roy Parkhouse
by Roy Parkhouse
©2007(licence)
ST5489 : Buddha figure by Andy Stott
by Andy Stott
©2012(licence)

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"St Tecla's Chapel & Holy Well" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: St Tecla''s Chapel & Holy Well by Sunny100 on Sunday, 18 March 2018
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St Tecla's Chapel or St Twrog's in the Severn Estuary was featured in the very interesting Archaeology programme: Britain At Low Tide on Channel 5 Saturday 17th March at 8.00pm. They found that the chapel was of a 14th century date and had been a hermitage, or anchorite's cell. But had fallen into ruin by the 17th century maybe due to higher tides in the estuary. The beacon is now solar powered. They called the chapel St Twrog's, but eventually they re-named it St Tegla's island, and also Church Island.
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Re: St Tecla''s Chapel & Holy Well by Sunny100 on Tuesday, 11 May 2010
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Please Note:- At some stage in the 6th or 7th century, after the martyrdom of St Tecla, her hermitage was taken over by another saint. He was St Twrog, a Celtic missionary from N. Wales - probably from Llandwrog. However, some accounts say a St Rioch or Riochatus, was also in residence on the tiny island in the Severn estuary. So this would account for the chapel having different dedications at various times in history. But in most cases St Tecla's name still comes to the fore and local people know it by that name. I now think that St Twrog and St Rioch are one and the same person.
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