St Gudula's Well, Ashburton, Newton Abbot

A traditional eye well, this holy source has a long history of pilgrimage

Highlights

• ‍‍Healing well for eye complaints

To understand this holy well, it is easiest to look at what people did here, rather than what written history records. It is renowned as an eye well and was used by local residents for its healing properties – within living memory, according to one researcher.

It is dedicated to St Gudula, a Belgian princess of the 8th century considered to be the patron saint of the blind. She never came to Devon but lived a simple life devoted to prayer and good works. She is the patron saint of Brussels.

The water trickles out of a small stone chamber down a channel, overgrown with ferns on my visit. It sits on the very edge of town in a little enclosure by the road. A 14th-century cross stands alongside, erected or possibly re-erected here in 1933.

St Gudula’s reputation for healing blindness comes from a vivid legend about her battle with spiritual darkness. On her way to church in Belgium each morning, the devil would blow out her candle in the hope she would get lost. Each time it would miraculously relight.

There is some debate about the correct dedication of this holy well. Some say it was originally dedicated to St Gudwal, a monk of the 6th century who was active in the Celtic west.

It is St Gudula’s only holy place in Britain, so perhaps she deserves to keep it. The well’s dedication matches her reputation for enhancing vision, if nothing else.

Directions

St Gudula’s Well

30m from junction of Old Totnes Road and Stonepark Crescent, Ashburton TQ13 7RF

W3W: seatbelt.voice.pitch

GPS: 50.5107N 3.7593W

Drive out of Ashburton on Old Totnes Road and look out for Stonepark Crescent, which is on the left at the end of town. The well is another 30m beyond this junction, on the left by the prominent stone cross.