Wells, Relics, Shrines

Abstract

An even more tangible contact with the powers of heaven was offered by their material remains. Saints, particularly in Cornwall, were connected with trees, as at St Breward, and chairs, as at Germoe. Wells were associated with saints’ lives or martyrdoms, as at St Columb Major. Personal possessions included Thomas of Lancaster’s hood at Pontefract, Neot’s horn at Bodmin and Henry VI’s sword and spurs on St Michael’s Mount. Christ’s crown of thorns was preserved in part at Bodmin, and his cross at Grade, St Buryan and elsewhere. A ‘relic of the pillar that Our Saviour Christ was bound to’ survived at Long Melford in 1529.¹