St Nun's Well
St Nun's (or St Nonna's) Well dates from mediaeval times and was rebuilt in the 19th Century; the stone basin inside is thought to date from Norman times. The well is associated with many superstitions: the well is guarded by an elf, and visitors failing to leave a bent pin as an offering will be followed home by clouds of piskies disguised as moths. The following old story was also recorded in Victorian times:
An old farmer once set his eyes upon the granite basin, and coveted it; for it was not wrong in his regard to convert the holy font to the base uses of the pigsty. One day he drove his oxen and wain to the gateway above, with intent to remove it. Taking his beasts to the entrance of the well, and fixing his chains around the sculptured trough, he tried to drag it from its ancient bed. For a long time it resisted the tugs of the oxen, but at length they started it and pulled it laboriously up-hill to where the wain was standing. When nearly up it burst away from the chains, rolled down towards the well, and, making a sharp turn, rolled into its own old place. No one will again venture to displace it, seeing that ... a man thriving and well-to-do in the world never prospered from that day forward. Indeed, retribution overtook him on the spot, the oxen falling dead, and their owner being struck lame and speechless. No one since has been hardy enough to try the removal of the font.
On walks
- Pelynt and the West Looe Valley (6.4 mile walk)
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