ral opinion regarding this well, says[1], "To this fountain the impatient, the jealous, the fearful and the superstitious resort to learn their future destiny from the unconscious water. By dropping pins or pebbles into this fountain, by shaking the ground round the fountain, or by contriving to raise bubbles from the bottom on certain days, when the moon is at a particular stage of increase or decrease, the secrets of this well are thus extorted." This superstition continued to prevail up to the beginning of the present century, and is still spoken of with respect by some, particularly the aged[2]. Of all writers. Bishop Hall, sometime bishop of the diocese of these western parts, bears the most honourable testimony to the efficacy of this well. In his Mystery of Godliness, when speaking of the good office which angels do to God's servants, the bishop says, "Of whiche kind was that noe less then miraculous cure which at St. Madderne's well in Cornwall was wrought on a poor cripple, whereof beside the attestation of many hundreds of the neighbours, I tooke stricte and impartial examination in my last triennial visitation. I found neither art nor collusion, the cure done, the author an invisible God." The well of St. Maddern is still frequented at the parish feast, which takes place, as I believe, in the month of July.
The chapel was dismantled, in the days of Cromwell, by a Major Ceely of St. Ives, and has since that period been gradually going to ruin. It has now a picturesque appearance, overgrown as it is with ivy and moss. In the eastern wall there is an old thorn-tree, the branches of which are scarcely less gnarled and tortuous than the roots, which may be seen twisting and winding amongst the rough stones of this rude specimen of masonry. It overhangs the ancient Altar, and with long rank grass, and wild brambles, completes the picture of desertion and ruin in this little sanctuary. The Altar, like that at St. Gwythian's, was placed lengthwise north and south, and consists of a large slab of granite, about 9 in. thick, 5 ft. long, and 2 ft. 6 in. wide: it is raised upon rude masonry to
- ↑ Borlase, Antiquities of Cornwall.
- ↑ The custom of dropping pins appears to have been very prevalent in Cornwall during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Beside a path leading to the oratory of St. Piran in the sands, there is a spot where thousands of pins may be found. It was the custom, I am told, to drop one or two pins at this place, when a child was baptized, and this custom was even retained within the recollection of some of the older inhabitants of the parish. There are other places in this country where pins may be collected by the handful, particularly at the ancient holy wells.
