CORNISir DEDICATIONS. 149 



The Cluirch stands in a circular enclosure, probably the 



original bank of the monastery of S. Mawnaii, and in " Tlie 

 Lawn " is the Holy Well. 



S. Nectan, Bishop, Martyr. 



A reputed son of Brychan, according- to the lists given by 

 William of Worcester and Leland. His great foundation was at 

 Hartland, but he had other churches at Welcombe, where is his 

 Holy Well, at Poundstock, where he has been displaced to make 

 room for S. Neot, at Ashcombe in Devon. He had a chapel 

 at Trethevy in Tintagel, and another at S. Winnow, which has 

 been restored and is in use. 



Anciently, there must have been one at Launceston, for a 

 Nectan fair is there held on his day. 



The account of the martyrdom of S. Nectan is in an extract 

 from his Legend at Hartland, made by William of Worcester. 

 He was fallen upon by robbers at Nova Villa, i.e. New Stoke, 

 where now stands the church, and his head was struck off. After 

 which he took up his head and carried it for the space of a 

 stadium — about 625 feet, to the spring near which he had dwelt 

 in his ca})in, and there he placed it on a stone which long after- 

 wards remained dyed with his blood. 



Nectan, as has already been pointed out, is not a Welsh 

 name, nor even, originally an L-ish name, but is Pictish. Nectan 

 does not occur among the sons of Brychan given by the Welsh 

 authorities 



William of Worcester says that his day is June 1 7. This 

 is also Nectan's day in the Exeter Calendar, in the Altemps 

 Martyrology of the 1 3th century, and in a Norwich Calendar of 

 the loth century. Curiously enough, the Irish Martyrologies 

 give "the sons of Nectan" on the same day. 



Wilson, in his Martyrology, 1640, gives February 14, and 

 for this he must have had some authority, as on this day a fair is 

 held at Bridgend in S. Winnow, where is a chapel to S. Nectan. 



The feast at Hartland and at S. Winnow is on June 17. 



S. Nectan's Well is at Stoke near Hartland Church, 



