North Tamerton, Cornwall
North Tamerton Church and Holy Well
SX 3110 9717 ordnance survey map reference
North Tamerton is a tiny village of houses around the old church, yet it has two wells so we were interested in visiting. We parked up at the church only to discover it was closed on Sundays but open the rest of the week. So, directions in hand we set off for the well which we knew was located in the garden on Well Farmhouse. We assumed this was the holy well as there was a beautiful stone well house. However, having asked permission to view, we discovered the door was screwed shut and there was no way of telling if any water remains in the well. It didn’t feel right to pray in someone’s front garden so we nipped back out on to the drive to see if God wanted to say anything.
There was a lovely peace and sense of kindness and there seemed to be an angel present carrying God’s gentleness. I could see turquoise in the Spirit which usually indicates revelation. At that point I hear, ‘the well is stopped up, decree it reopens in the Spirit’. So this was how I briefly prayed. I didn’t sense anything more particularly.
My husband in the meantime had spotted that a holy well was marked on the OS map in North Tamerton but in a different location. We parked up and tried to locate it but weren’t having much joy. This is when we know God wants us to visit a well because a local man comes out of his house and asks if we need help. He knows exactly where the holy well is and gives us some directions which we follow. Up through a field and the well is in the corner. We follow his directions but have trouble finding any well. We know that it has been capped by a slate so no one falls in but apart from a hollow in the corner of the hedge which we assume is the well there is nothing to see.
However, knowing we are in the vicinity of the well we settle to pray. I sit on a bank under the hedge as it’s raining mizzle. As soon as I pray I see an explosion of light and an arched banner with the words ‘Light of the World’ written on them. I sense the well in the spirit realm and see a vision of a deeply dug well but the water level is very low and a long way down. I pray for the living waters of God to rise once more. At this point a golden angel swoops in with a bowl, scoops up water and flies off. Now a similar thing happened at another holy well and the sense is that something is being distributed to other areas of Cornwall.
On returning home, I double checked the holy wells site which I use to locate the holy wells (Cornish Ancient and Holy Wells) and was surprised to see that we didn’t actually locate the exact spot of the Tamerton holy well. Despite the local’s directions it wasn’t in the hedge line corner at all but a little way into the field. So despite the experience we’d already had in praying, I sensed we had to return, not least because there had been a tragedy at the well and that was why the slate capping was in place. I sensed there was work to be done to see it cleansed.
This time the church was open. What a delight. It was so easy to worship there and I found myself meditating in music to the verse, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul and strength’ Luke 10:27. I sang it extemporaneously over and over resting in God’s presence and pouring out my love to Him.
We then wandered off to find the well. Through the gate, up to the telegraph posts and into the adjoining field again.
This time though, instead of inspecting the hedge lines we looked into the field. I’d double checked the OS map’s location and even looked on www.lidarfinder.com. The latter showed a clear indentation where the well should be. And we had to laugh because there ahead of us in what looked like a nettle patch was clearly the location of the well. It was an indentation in the land with the course of a dry stream leading from it. We had totally missed it the day before!
When we walked over it became clear that this was indeed the well. We knew it was below ground level and originally two steps led down but that now it was inaccessible and capped by a large slate stone. Clearing back the nettles we found the slate and the two inch opening into the well. I popped a pebble in and after a brief pause it splashed into water. So the well is still there but hidden. We perched on the ground above the slate and prayed, excited to have definitely found the holy well this time.
There are no records of whose well this was nor legends remaining but that never deters me asking God what is going on spiritually. The moment we started to pray a butterfly flew up out of the well. It felt significant as a sign of new life. Very swiftly a deep peace settled on us and the whole place felt lovely. I was led to pray about the tragedy but then God began to reveal what he wanted to do and say. I saw in a vision, beautiful, pure blue water drops falling gently from heaven and immediately various scriptures sprang to mind.
Water on a dry and thirsty land (Psalm 63:1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.)
Springs in the desert (Isaiah 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.)
Rivers on dry ground (Isaiah 41:18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.)
I knew instinctively this was to do with God cleansing the land of sadness and rejuvenating it. A deep peace then descends.
I asked God to give me a sign to confirm what He is doing. I rarely do this but felt prompted. I find myself listening to a collared dove which is cooing. Doves always represent the presence of the Holy Spirit, like the one which descended on Jesus after His baptism (Luke 3:22). So I tuned into the dove. At the same time a fresh wind began to blow and play in the leaves of adjoining trees and yet it was balmy. Two collared doves take off and begin flying around the adjoining fields.
I go into a vision when I close my eyes. I can see a very bright light (just like I did the day before when praying) and it seems to go right up to heaven in a vertical shaft. The scripture verse comes strongly to mind, ‘Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.’(Luke 11:9-10) As I keep watching and enquiring of the Lord I see a ladder within the light and it’s a portal directly into heaven. I look to see what is at the top of the ladder and I see two angels, both have two long trumpets in their mouths.
I hear the Holy Spirit ask me to command them to blow the trumpets. So I do. They release the sound and it trumpets down to earth. It truly is something of heaven coming down and touching earth. I watch as the sound hits the well water in the spirit realm. A geyser erupts skywards and I feel it symbolises the Spirit of God renewing the dry desert with living waters. The water is what brings life and I’m reminded of Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well telling her to drink of the water and she will never thirst again (John 4). We continued to pray into this revelation asking God to pour out the waters of His presence and love on a dry and weary land where there is no water. Two days running after this revelation, I saw angels depicted in stained glass blowing the exact same long trumpets.
All this time the collared doves were present. One continued to call whilst two more settled on wires directly in my eye line. I had asked for a sign and this couldn’t be clearer. Even after leaving and driving home we again saw three collared doves lined up together on a wire in a different location. It was a fitting reminder of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What a precious encounter this visit to North Tamerton holy well and church has been. This is a portal and a set aside place which God hasn’t forgotten about.