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<< Our Photo Pages >> St Helen's Well (Croyde) - Holy Well or Sacred Spring in England in Devon

Submitted by AngieLake on Sunday, 14 April 2013  Page Views: 8196

Springs and Holy WellsSite Name: St Helen's Well (Croyde) Alternative Name: Lady Well (Croyde)
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 1.2 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Devon Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Nearest Town: Barnstaple  Nearest Village: Croyde
Map Ref: SS4440538970
Latitude: 51.128816N  Longitude: 4.225008W
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
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 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.
4 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
4

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St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : St Helen's holy well in Croyde, north Devon. (Vote or comment on this photo)
On 6th April 2013 I found this holy well tucked down a little side lane serving modern houses. I knew it was somewhere in Cott Lane, Croyde, having read a news article on the history of the village in the local paper. Despite growing up in Braunton, about 5 miles away, I hadn't previously heard of it, and I didn't spot it while walking up the lane.

Earlier I'd done a search for St. Helen while doing Celtic Sanctuary research and discovered that there is an ancient chapel of the same name nearby, so I was also looking for that building, to no avail. Walking back down Cott Lane I noticed a large modern property named 'Ladywell'. Following the garden wall, I suddenly spotted the holy well, tucked away down the little side lane.

I called into a nearby shop to ask the owner if he knew where the chapel was, and he pointed to a high wall opposite, and just peeping above it were the ruins of the chapel. There was no way to see this building, which is in a private garden, though one can walk around that property via a narrow lane opposite the well lane.
The priory no longer exists, though there's a business called the Priory Hotel, I think.

Quote from the newspaper write-up (probably the North Devon Journal):
"In the village itself there is much to see and do. The oldest building in Croyde is St Helen's Chapel in Cott Lane. It was built in the 12th century and is dedicated to the Celtic Saint Endelentia who brought Christianity to the village. Opposite the chapel, in a tiny lane behind St Helen's Priory, is the Holy Well, or Lady Well, which was blessed by Saint Endelentia and was popular with pilgrims for centuries."

I googled for St Helen's Chapel in Croyde when reading about the saint, and making copies for my files, while doing Celtic Sanctuary research. In her book 'The Magic and Mystery of Holy Wells' author Edna Whelan mentions the predominance of St Helen's Wells in Yorkshire. She says:

"However, in the North of England, including Durham, Cumbria, Northumberland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire, we have a predominance of Holy Wells dedicated to St. Helen. It is thought that St. Helen, who was the wife of the Roman Emperor Constantius and the mother of Constantine the Great, was a Celtic Princess and therefore this makes her particularly identified with Yorkshire and Lancashire as this area was ruled by the Celtic tribe of the Brigantes."

I've just remembered my book on Devon's Holy Wells 'Secrets of the Hidden Source' by Terry Faull, and he writes this about it:

"St Helen's Chapel was a daughter-house to the Benedictine Priory at nearby Pilton [that's in Barnstaple], and the remains have been built into a cottage here. There is some debate about the identity of St Helen as some authorities believe she was a Celtic Saint, others say she is the martyr of that name from 12th century Sweden. Most now accept that St Helen, or Helena, was the mother of Constantine, the Roman Emperor, who recognised Christianity as an official religion. St Helena, from the time of her conversion around 320 BC, founded a number of churches throughout the Roman Empire including in Rome and the Holy Land.

There are churches dedicated to St Helen in Devon including across the bay from Croyde at Abbotsham, on Lundy, and in Cornwall including chapels near Land's End and on the Isles of Scilly. The little well-house is in excellent condition and the spring which feeds it is one of a number which break along the spring-line here." Traditional uses: Lost.

Terry Faull gives Grid Ref: "SS445392", but I think that might place it a little too far north. He describes access: "Good public access; the well is down a little lane near the cottages on the site of St Helen's Chapel at Croyde."
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St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : The sturdy little well house photographed on 6th April 2013. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : Looking back up the little side lane from St Helen's Well. Cott Lane runs from right to left at the end of this short pathway. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : The area of the well looked a bit tired on this visit, 21st August 2019. Looks like the same clouties photographed early in the year by Geoff S. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : A peep at the water in this well on 21st August 2019. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : The well on 21st August 2019.

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : Latest photos of the quaint little St Helen's Well at Croyde, taken 21st August 2019.

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by geoffstickland : There is obviously some affection for the well locally as it has been decorated (1 comment)

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : The grill protecting St Helen's Well decorated with clouties in June 2015.

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : Cott Lane is on the right here. Croyde is popular with surfers and a very pretty village. I parked just down the road, around the next bend, on the right opposite the pub and ice-cream shops. I think it was ok for a short stop without paying.

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : The ruins of St Helen's Chapel peek over the top of the hedge opposite. (I'm standing near the shop here.)

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : A closer view of the well house and the cottages or modern houses behind it.

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : Looking into the waters of the well on 6th April 2013.

St Helen's Well (Croyde)
St Helen's Well (Croyde) submitted by AngieLake : Standing in Cott Lane and looking down the little lane where St Helen's Well stands, just by the right hedge or wall near the end.

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"St Helen's Well (Croyde)" | Login/Create an Account | 8 News and Comments
  
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Re: St Helen's Well (Croyde) by AngieLake on Saturday, 23 February 2019
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Regarding grid refs: This one seems to be accurate. In his book Secrets of the Hidden Source, Terry Faull gives SS445392, a bit different from ours which is SS4440538970.
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Re: St Helen's Well (Croyde) by ForestDaughter on Wednesday, 24 April 2013
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What a fabulous find and piece of research to find it. It's totally delightful, and one for the list for when I get around to visiting the other side of our lovely county. :)
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Re: St Helen's Well (Croyde) by Runemage on Tuesday, 16 April 2013
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What a lovely find Angie, it looks cared-for too.
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    Re: St Helen's Well (Croyde) by AngieLake on Wednesday, 17 April 2013
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    Yes, Rune, it was good to finally locate it, and it does seem tidy there. Croyde must be an expensive place to live these days - I doubt that many young locals can afford to buy a home in the village - so I guess houseowners make an effort to keep their surroundings neat and tidy.
    I wonder if anyone moves that little bush to get at the water? The interior was clean, so someone must get in there and tidy up leaves, etc.
    Wouldn't it be nice to see how it once looked, without all the houses around it?!

    I was taken to a farm in the village a couple of times when I was about 3 or 4 by our neighbour who had relatives there, but I don't think it was Chapel Farm. Can't think of anyone left to ask! Maybe I'll have another nosey around next time I'm in N.Devon.

    The writer Henry Williamson lived a couple of miles up the road at Georgeham, and some of his early books conjure up the atmosphere of the 'old days'. I've got 'The Beautiful Years', 'Tales of a Devon Village', and 'Henry Williamson - A Portrait' by Daniel Farson, who also lived close by at Putsborough. (As teenagers we often used to see him with his pals in the pub at Ilfracombe.) Of course, 'Tarka the Otter' is Williamson's best-known book, also set in this area. I'm pretty sure he didn't mention the well or chapel in any of them.

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Re: St Helen's Well (Croyde) by davidmorgan on Monday, 15 April 2013
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Street View
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    Re: St Helen's Well (Croyde) by AngieLake on Tuesday, 16 April 2013
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    That Street View facility is amazing, isn't it? (Sorry, I'm not terribly 'techy' - no iPads, etc, - so can still be awed!)
    I've noticed that the repaired ruin of the old chapel is further down Cott Lane than I remembered, so wouldn't be "opposite the well lane". It's actually almost opposite Chapel Farm Gallery.
    Going up the lane from the well, you can almost read the name plaque 'Ladywell' which I mentioned, on the gateway of the first house on the left.
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Re: St Helen's Well (Croyde) by PAB on Sunday, 14 April 2013
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A lovely find Angie.....one to add to the (growing) list of sites in Devon we really must get down to!
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