Saint Nectan's Kieve ( kw, Cuva Nathan, meaning ''Nathan's tub'') in

Saint Nectan's Glen Saint Nectan's Glen ( kw, Glynn Nathan, meaning ''deep wooded valley of Nathan/Nectan'') is an area of woodland in Trethevy near Tintagel, north Cornwall stretching for around one mile along both banks of the Trevillet River. The glen's most pr ...

, near

Tintagel Tintagel () or Trevena ( kw, Tre war Venydh, meaning ''Village on a Mountain'') is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle are associated with the legends surroundi ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, is a

plunge pool A plunge pool (or plunge basin or waterfall lake) is a deep depression in a stream bed at the base of a waterfall or shut-in. It is created by the erosional forces of cascading water on the rocks at formation's base where the water impacts.Marsh ...

or basin fed by a waterfall on the

Trevillet River Rocky Valley ( kw, Glynn Duwy, meaning ''deep valley of the river Duwy'') is a small valley in the parish of Tintagel, north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The valley has been carved by the Trevillet River ( kw, Duwy, meaning ''dark r ...

Geology

The river is carved into

Late Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

slate and several earlier kieves can be seen further up the rock walls of the waterfall. The current basin is estimated to be around deep, and the water emerges through a natural rock arch to drop a further to a wide shallow pool.

Origins of the name

The idea that the sixth-century

Saint Nectan Saint Nectan, sometimes styled Saint Nectan of Hartland, was a 5th-century holy man who lived in Stoke, Hartland, in the nowadays English, and at the time brythonic-speaking county of Devon, where the prominent St Nectan's Church, Hartland is ...

had his hermitage above the waterfall is myth. According to legend, Nectan rang a silver bell in times of stormy weather to warn shipping of the perils of the rocks at the mouth of the

Rocky Valley Rocky Valley ( kw, Glynn Duwy, meaning ''deep valley of the river Duwy'') is a small valley in the parish of Tintagel, north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The valley has been carved by the Trevillet River ( kw, Duwy, meaning ''dark riv ...

. Though other legends are also told of Nectan (such as his burial under the riverbed), no evidence exists to substantiate Nectan's presence here. His home was further north, in what is now

Hartland, Devon The village of Hartland, whose parish incorporates the hamlet of Stoke to the west and the village of Meddon in the south, is the most north-westerly settlement in the county of Devon, England. Now a large village which acts as a centre for a ...

. The name is first recorded in 1799 as ''Nathan's Cave'' in reference to a local character, either Nathan Williams or Nathan Cock, and the Cornish word ''Cuva'' (pronounced ''keeva'') meaning ''tub''.

Legend

The legend connecting St Nectan to the falls is the romantic whimsy of the nineteenth century clergyman, Reverend

Robert Stephen Hawker Robert Stephen Hawker (1803–1875) was a British Anglican priest, poet, antiquarian and reputed eccentric, known to his parishioners as Parson Hawker. He is best known as the writer of "The Song of the Western Men" with its chorus line of ...

who first attributed the falls to the saint in his poem, ''The Sisters of the Glen'' in 1846. The "hermitage" written about by Hawker and others was a simple summerhouse and had no connection to any saint. Many of the site's legends are the result of Hawker's poetry and the vivid imagination of nineteenth century Trethevy farmer, William Goard who led tour parties to the falls.

Recognition as a sacred site

Saint Nectan's Kieve is believed by some to be a sacred place or

cloutie well A clootie well is a holy well (or sacred spring), almost always with a tree growing beside it, where small strips of cloth or ribbons are left as part of a healing ritual, usually by tying them to branches of the tree (called a clootie tree or ...

, and numerous ribbons, crystals, photographs, inscriptions, prayers and other devotions now adorn the foliage and rock walls near the waterfall. Many visitors add small piles of flat stones obtained from the stream.

In literature

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

's poetical illustration ''St. Knighton’s Kieve'', on an engraving of a painting by

Thomas Allom Thomas Allom (13 March 1804 – 21 October 1872) was an English architect, artist, and topographical illustrator. He was a founding member of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He designed many buildings in London, in ...

, is based on a legend she was told concerning hidden treasure submerged at the foot of the falls. In the poem she writes of a charmed golden cup, which, with some poetic licence, is found to be irretrievable.

The Hermitage

A building reputed to be the site of Saint Nectan's cell is situated at the top of the waterfall; the date of the building is uncertain. It is most probably an 18th-century summerhouse, and the legends are due to the imaginations of

R. S. Hawker Robert Stephen Hawker (1803–1875) was a British Anglican priest, poet, antiquarian and reputed eccentric, known to his parishioners as Parson Hawker. He is best known as the writer of "The Song of the Western Men" with its chorus line of "An ...

and William Goard, yeoman of Trethevy. The current owners claim that the ruins of the chapel provide the lower part of the walls of a cottage erected in the 1860s, and extended around 1900. Tea gardens are open in the Hermitage grounds between April and October''The History and Legend of the Hermitage and Waterfall, St. Nectan's Glen, Tintagel'', leaflet, 2007 and a new woodland walkway (opened March 2016) allows visitors to view the falls from above. These views were previously only available by climbing the rocks above the falls.

References

External links

St Nectan's Glen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Nectan's Kieve Environment of Cornwall Celtic Christianity Waterfalls of England Articles containing video clips