Chapel Of St Clether

Well-chapel dedicated to St Clether, dating to approximately the 15th century with earlier origins. The building was restored in 1897 by S. Baring-Gould. It is constructed of granite and local stone rubble with a moulded granite plinth and parapet coping, and is roofed in slate with gable ends.

The chapel is orientated east-west, positioned some 1.5 metres to the south of the Holy Well. It is of rectangular plan with entrances in the west end and north side. The water from the well house is conveyed by underground channel and then along a cut granite channel under the east wall of the chapel. The water flows under the east wall through a small opening to the north east of the altar, then through a second opening on the south side of the altar, and continues under the floor into a second Holy well formed in the thickness of the south wall of the chapel. A second small niche behind the altar, close to the water flow, may have been used to house a relic of a saint.

The exterior is a single-storey chapel in an isolated position directly to the south of the well house. The west elevation features a depressed 2-centred hollow chamfered granite arch with pyramid stops and a 20th-century door, with a 2-light 19th-century Perpendicular window above. The north elevation has a hollow chamfered granite arch to the entrance and a 3-light Perpendicular window at the east end. In the south-east corner of the south elevation is a small recess with a hollow chamfered granite arch containing a second Holy well with a rectangular well sump, fed by the water diverted under the east wall of the chapel. Behind this niche is a small shelf with a door above, which Baring-Gould and Sedding suggested was for thanksgiving donations from pilgrims, with the door allowing the priest to collect donations from within the chapel.

The interior is simple, with a late 19th-century roof. An early altar comprises a granite slab incised with five crosses, standing on four tapered granite piers. At the base of the east wall to the north east of the altar is a small niche through which water may be seen, with a dressed granite surround. To the right (south) of the altar, the floor level is sunk to enable diverted water to be taken from inside the chapel.

Prior to restoration the chapel was roofless and ruinous. Baring-Gould stated that during the restoration 'every stone was replaced whence it had fallen'. Photographs in Lane-Davies' Holy Wells of Cornwall illustrate the chapel during and after restoration.