About half a mile south of St Keyne church lies her holy well which plays an important role in marriages. A large slate recites the history:

The Legend of Saint Keyne Well
Saint Keyne was a Princess who lived about 600 AD. She laid on the waters of this well a spell thus described by Carew in 1602 AD.
The quality that man or wife
Whom chance or choice attains
First of this sacred spring to drink
Thereby the mastery gains

Tradition has it that, after the wedding ceremony, a bride and groom would make their way from the church to the well to seek to be the first to drink the waters and therefore establish their dominance in the relationship.

Robert Southey tells the story and recounts the trick played by one tricky bride in his poem The Well of St Keyne

A Well there is in the west country,
And a clearer one never was seen;
There is not a wife in the west country
But has heard of the Well of St. Keyne.

An oak and an elm-tree stand beside,
And behind doth an ash-tree grow,
And a willow from the bank above
Droops to the water below …

We are not sure that we spotted an elm, ash or willow but it is in a charmingly bosky situation on the corner of two roads, its entrances flanked by mini standing stones.

The well house is apparently C16 in origin but was rebuilt in 1936.

We decided not to drink the water as one of us declared that things were fine as they were.