St Nectan's Glen

Saint Nectan's Glen 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 prominent feature is St Nectan's Kieve, a spectacular sixty foot waterfall through a hole in the rocks. The site attracts tourists who believe it to be "one of the UK's most spiritual sites," and tie or place ribbons, crystals, photographs, small piles of flat stones and other materials near the waterfall.History and buildingsIt is believed locally that, in the sixth century, Saint Nectan had a hermitage above the waterfall, and rang a silver bell to warn ships of the dangers of offshore rocks at the mouth of the Rocky Valley during storms. The site was known as Nathan's Cave in 1799, named after a local character, either Nathan Williams or Nathan Cock. There is a late nineteenth or early twentieth century half-timbered private residence known as The Hermitage, supposedly constructed on the remains of a Celtic chapel. Further downstream are the brick remains of St Gerwyn, a house which was destroyed in a fire in the mid-twentieth century. The supposed connection with St Nectan is a Victorian invention and the current use of the site as a place for depositing "sacred offerings" is an even more recent invention.Flora and faunaAs a result of the glen's flora and fauna it was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1985. The damp shade provided by the glen supports a rich bryophyte flora, including two rare liverworts Jubula hutchinsiae and Trichocolea tomentella, and the mosses Fissidens curnovii and Fissidens osmundoides. Dippers also nest in the rocks near Saint Nectan's Kieve.