Historic well is surrounded by myth and legend

HIDDEN behind the cluster of barns and outbuildings at a working farm near Callington lies the ‘largest and most impressive’ well house in Cornwall’.

With its decorated turrets and steeple-like structure above the entrance, the chapel appears quite unexpectedly as you walk down a track from the yard.

Long before the farm shop and tractors arrived, pilgrims walked the same path to bathe in its holy waters, which were believed to cure ailments.

And long before them – before the granite well house was built over the ancient spring – legend has it that this tranquil spot in Cornwall was the site of a testosterone-fuelled fight to the death.

In these more peaceful times, Dupath Well is managed by Cornwall Heritage Trust on behalf of English Heritage. Describing it as the ‘largest and most impressive’ well house in Cornwall, the Grade I-listed chapel-like building is constructed from local granite ashlar, with a roof made from long stones that run the length of the structure.

Constructed over a spring, water rises inside the well house where it is fed into a shallow stone basin, thought to be the remains of an immersion pool in which people would have once bathed in the hope of curing whooping cough.

However, the healing powers of the water are not the only romantic tale attached to this elaborate 500-year-old building.

The general concensus is that the well house was built in around 1510 by the Augustinian canons of the nearby St Germans Priory who

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The fight was long and hard, but eventually Gotlieb was killed. Sir Colan then built the well to atone for his sins

Cornish Heritage Trust

⨠ Dupath Well is thought to have been built around 1510 by the Augustinian canons of the nearby St Germans Priory Pictures by Greg Martin