I must confess to hacking the crap out of a load of overgrown brambles, ivy and whatnot away from the holy well at St Breward with my little Swss Army knife... You could hardly see the well-house because of it! But not when I'd finished... :)
G x
I should probably confess that I visit the broad stone in Dorset reasonably regularly to clear earth off it... http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/2612/broad_stone.html