Madron Well and Chapel

The chapel is a 13th or 14th century building over an ancient Celtic site. The well is a ground level natural spring said to have healing properties.

The well is about 200 metres from the chapel and the trees are often hung with strips of cloth or ‘clouties’ as offerings to appease the spirits.

An old May Day tradition, which was still being observed in 1879, was for many young folks to head from Penzance before sunrise, to perform a ceremony, to learn the number of years they would have to wait before they got married. (Source – The Cornishman. No. 43. 8 May 1879. p. 4)

The Rev R.S Hawker even penned a poem about the well.

"PLUNGE thy right hand in St. Madron's Spring,
If true to it's troth be the palm you bring;
But if a false sigil thy fingers bear,
Lay them the rather on the burning share"

Loud laughed King Arthur when as he heard
That solemn friar his boding word;
And blithely he swore, as a king he may,
"We tryst for St. Madron's at the break of day."

How many Lanyons walked over the fields to visit the holy well near their manor house?