Cornwall | Nicole Evelina – USA Today Bestselling Author

The holy spring at St. Clether’s still dressed as it would have been in Celtic times.

England is dotted with holy wells and peaceful chapels. Many of the holy wells date back to pagan times when they were associated with a local deity or water spirit. There was a tradition of “dressing the wells” on feast days, i.e. decorating them with flowers and leaving simple offerings and/or tying a ribbon to a nearby tree to symbolize a petition, traditions that still take place. When Christianity came, these spots were natural places of contemplation for hermits and other holy people. Today, they are still places of pilgrimage for Christian and pagan alike, and are fiercely protected by the local people.

St. Clether’s

The holy spring feeds into a lake and a babbling brook below.

We visited four such places on my Arthurian trip to England. By far my favorite was the first, St. Clether’s in Cornwall. The walk to this spring is past an old stone church with an ancient graveyard where bluebells blossom among the headstones. Then you walk along a path with gorse on one side and a barely visible brook below (you can hear it easier than you can see it). There are real cuckco birds in the trees and on a warm summer’s day, the breeze sounds like the trees are talking.

The inside of St. Clether’s as taken through the door. You can go inside. I just like the framing of this shot.

St. Clether’s itself is a small stone chapel. The spring is around the side in a small niche. When we were there it was dressed with offerings of flowers and symbols of fertility. On the inside, the chapel is plain and beautiful. The stone altar looks like a dolmen, and has a simple cross with a candle on either side on top. Benches for contemplation line the walls. The peace and quiet inside was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

I can see how one could grow closer to God there. I really didn’t want to leave. If it got wi-fi service, I could live there. It is lovely maintained by Vonda Inman, who wrote a lovely book called The Guardians of the Well, fictional stories about St. Clether’s over the centuries. I’m currently reading it and loving it. All proceeds from the sale go to the upkeep of the site. There is some video of St. Clether’s on my YouTube page.

St. Nectan’s Faerie Glen

On the way to St. Nectan’s

The second sacred site we visited is St. Nectan’s. This is one place where the journey to get there is just as cool at the site itself. You spend quite a long ways in the woods, walking parallel to (and in some places, over) a babbling brook. There are so many amazing photo opportunities, I can’t even begin to describe them. All the while, you’re surrounded by the sound of the water and the birds calling in the trees. (I kept thinking of the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood. “You take the one on the right.” “Which one’s the one on the right?” “Oh, we’ll just jump out and grab them.”) As you get closer, you start seeing still stone cairns that pilgrims have built in the water.

Stone cairns built by pilgrims.

Then, just when you think you can’t walk any farther, you reach the gift shop/café, where you have to get a ticket to see the faerie pool. That is also where you can view the ancient hermitage (which I forgot to do – you’ll see why in a minute). You go down a slippery set of stairs and then you’re at the most spectacular waterfall, which empties out into the pool.

The holy waterfall at St. Nectan’s

As you approach the waterfall, there are curtains of ribbons on each side, left by pilgrims. Word of warning: the rocks leading into the pool are very slick. I should know. I fell in! (I prefer to think of it as being baptized by the faeries.) I went back up to the café to dry off, but my tour mates stayed and took photos. They all waded into the water, and the photos they took ended up full of orbs. It is crazy to see how many. And my blessing dunk in the water is why I forgot to visit the hermitage. That’s okay, I’m sure I’ll be back someday.

Offerings left at the waterfall by pilgrims.

Next week we’ll explore the holy sites of St. Madron and St. Crede.

Have you ever read about or been to these or any other sacred wells/springs? Have you seen or heard of the tradition of well dressing still taking place today? What do you think it means? Do you think it should continue?

Tintagel Castle

The story of Arthur’s conception at Tintagel comes from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain. In it, Tintagel was the seat of the King Goloris and his wife, Iggraine. High King Uther Pendragon, Arthur’s father, falls in love with Iggraine on first sight. When Goloris is killed in battle, Merlin casts a spell on Uther to make him look like Goloris. He enters the castle unquestioned and sleeps with Iggraine, who conceives Arthur. Nine months later, when the child is born, Merlin comes to Tintagel to spirit Arthur away to safety. Thus, does this impressive castle enter Arthurian legend.

Tres and me high on the cliffs

Yes, you have to walk up all of those and more to get to the castle.

The Tintagel of today is definitely an imposing structure. Situated high (and I mean high) on the Cornish coast, the visible ruins are all that is left of a 12^th century castle. To get there, you have to walk up a crazy series of stairways that jut this way and that, and many of the steps are uneven and difficult for a 5’1” person to get up. (My calf muscles will never be the same!) But it is all worth it when you get to the top. In addition to the monastery ruins, there are several stone foundations of early Celtic settlements, where you can see where different buildings, even different rooms would have been. These, wisely, are on the part of the cliff most sheltered from the unforgiving wind.

Some of the Celtic settlements

A few other attractions up top are an ancient, acoustically perfect cavern that no one knows the purpose of. It’s speculated it was for ritual. The walls were hand dug, but are so smooth, they appear machine made. Then there is a flat piece of rock with nearly perfect circles carved into it. Again, no one knows the purpose (ancient cup holders? :)).

King Arthur’s footprint

Getting back to King Arthur, there’s a rock with an impression in it called King Arthur’s footprint, where, legend says, he was crowned and symbolically married to the land. It does indeed look like a large man’s foot made the impression. You can put your own foot in it, too. Not far away, just off the coast, is a triangular island known as Merlin’s hat.

Inside Merlin’s Cave

The view out from Merlin’s Cave

Far below are several caves, only one of which actually connects to the mainland. That cave is known as Merlin’s cave, home of the legendary enchanter. It floods at high tide, which we witnessed, since the tide came in while we were there. It is a beautiful cave, with a vertical fissure that lets in the light. It may or may not be magical, but I did capture an orb in a photograph there, the only one in over 1,000 photos.

Merlin’s Cave from above

We went swimming in the water just outside of the cave, which was so cold it hurt your feet. Well, Jamie was the only one brave enough to actually swim. I clung to the rocks (which had algae that felt like Astroturf) like a mermaid, only daring to get about waist deep when the waves splashed me. My friend Tres waded out to a waterfall to get a closer look and said she couldn’t feel the lower half of her body when she came back.

The Camelot Castle Hotel

I have to put in a plug for the Camelot Castle Hotel, where we stayed during our time in Tintagel. There are a lot of negative stories about it on the Internet, but I truly enjoyed my time there. It’s a fancy hotel on top of the cliffs that is currently undergoing a five-year renovation. I paid for an upgraded room, which I would recommend to anyone staying there. My room had a four poster bed and a bathtub that was big enough to swim in! (I kept wanting to quote Pretty Woman: “His bathtub is bigger than the Blue Banana!”) Plus, it had a private balcony overlooking both the ocean and a labyrinth carved into the grass below. I went out on the balcony after dark to look at the stars and was blown away by how many more you can see than in the city. It was a spiritual experience.

Sunset from our hotel, overlooking Tintagel Castle

The food is also very good and we got to meet the artist in residence. He’s very kind, maybe a little eccentric (aren’t we all), but I really liked him. I even bought one of his paintings that I fell in love with. And I don’t ever do that – that is the only piece of real art I own.

So, what do you think of Tintagel? Is it Arthur’s birthplace? I have my doubts, but I’d love to hear what you think. Have you been there? What was your experience like?