<< Text Pages >> St Tecla's Chapel & Holy Well - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Gloucestershire
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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 ChapelCountry: 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:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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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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