Details snipped from...
bath.ac.uk/lispring/sourcearchive/fs3/fs3lh1.htm
Reached by taking an overgrown track leading westward onto Tredinney Common from the Iron Age settlement at Carn Euny near Brane, two miles west of Sancreed. As this path begins to widen, after about 100 yards, the well is immediately on the left.
It consists of a flight of steps leading down to a clear spring in a stone lined recess with a large granite capstone.
Another smaller well lined with four large granite slabs lies a few feet to the north west and carved stones from the chapel which once stood here may be seen in the surrounding undergrowth.
Services were held at the well chapel during the 18th century and the site has only been neglected since then. The stonework of the well is still in a good condition.
my wife and i have owned this site since 1985. when we first arrived the wells were in a poor state. we cleared the area of old sheets of corrugated iron and old feriliser sacks and made a path to the old hawthorn tree, which was impossable to approach, there were no ribbons then. we then openened the gateway so we could make use of our water rights. the photo that you describe as the well having the remains of the chapel to one side, is not quite right. what you take to be the remains of the chapel are in fact stones i layed myself to separate the track from the well infrastructure as this was being degraded by visitors and horse riders etc. the well in question was built from the old chapel when demolished in1808. st uny's holly well or giants well is the smaller of the two.
the chapel never stood over the well but to the side some 30 feet to the east and the remains of the corner of the chapel nearest to the well form the 90%
corner of our field. the chapel stood in an enclosue the remains of which are the straight section of wall behind the rags tree and a section of the field wall behind st uny's well.
when working the land many of the old pieces of chapel turned up. the first to be discovered were the three stones atop the big well, which had been cast into the stream, so that the well could be covered in sheets of iron, as a horse and rider had taken a nasty fall! these stones were recognised from a 1908 photo in my posesion. a large section of round column, column support,
more arched window stones, a piece of the cross, mullions, and a door stone.
the nice carved quoin stone by the giants well was found two foot down when installing our water pipe. i maintain the site without remuneration, hand cutting the path and maintaining the tree's all of which were planted by me.
as we are busy with building i may have been a bit behind on the occasion you visited and found the path not to your liking. sorry about that.
i am currently in the process of writing a small book on the wells and chapel, with the results of my research and findings.
Thanks so much for this excellent information! It's odd, but I can't bring to mind whether or not, among the many Cornish wells we've visited, we've seen this one. The name's familiar... I look forward very much to your book. :)