Last week Mrs Sheryll Murry MP had the pleasure of receiving an email from Historic England regarding the St Cleer Holy Well and Cross. They explained that “St Cleer Holy Well and Cross is the only example of a well house with an open porch-like design in Cornwall. Its pillars, capitals and arches are carved with simple mouldings and patterns which were unusual for this date in Cornwall. The open, arched form of the structure, with a steep gabled roof was probably intended to resemble a high-status saint's tomb or shrine. Prior to the Reformation the interior may have been used to display the image or relics of a saint, to be viewed by pilgrims to the site, who would have had access to water from the spring covered by the building through the small double arch at the east end. The first reference to the building was by the Cornish historian William Hals around 1700, who described it as ‘much decayed.’ In the 19th century, the spring water was piped to the roadside nearby, for the villagers’ convenience. In 1864 the well was restored by Lieutenant Henry Rogers in memory of his grandfather, the Reverend John Jope, who had been vicar of the parish for 67 years. At the same time, he established a trust for its maintenance, but by the late 20th century, with no trustees surviving, the site of the well had fallen into neglect. The Cornwall Heritage Trust (CHT) acquired the site in November 2022 and took on its management. Historic England has supported the CHT with a grant to enable assessments of the site, tree surgery, some re-pointing, and interpretation to improve understanding and management of the site for future generations.”
