St Neot

St Neot is one of Bodmin Moor’s prettiest villages and is a good access point for the southern part of the moor. For a true underground experience, be sure to pay a visit to Carnglaze Caverns and The Rum Store. Carnglaze consists of three underground caverns set in the Loveny Valley at St Neot. Carnglaze which means ‘blue rock pile’ in Cornish, goes back long before the dinosaurs roamed the earth. The mud which would become the slate that is Carnglaze was being laid down underneath the seas from as long ago as 500 million years. Now the caverns are available for all to see. In recent years Carnglaze Caverns has found notoriety as an unusual concert venue. The first of the caverns, The Rum Store, is so called because the Royal Navy used it during the Second World War to store its supply of rum. In 2001 it was converted into an auditorium with seating for 400. You can take a guided tour around the main spectacular cavern, walking down the steps, going underground, and ending up by the amazing underground lake.

It also merits a visit for its splendid 15th century St Anietus’s Parish Church, which contains some of the most impressive medieval stained-glass windows of any parish church in the country. In one, God is depicted measuring out the universe during the Creation while, in another, Noah can be seen with his Ark, which takes the shape of a sailing ship of the period. Perhaps the most interesting window of all is that of St Neot, the diminutive saint after whom the village is named. St Neot became famous for his miracles involving animals and one story tells of an exhausted hunted doe who ran to the side of the saint. A stern look from the saint sent the pursuing hounds back into the forest, while the huntsman dropped his bow and became a faithful disciple. Another tale, and one that can be seen in the church window, tells of an angel giving Neot three fish for his well – saying that, as long as he only eats one fish a day there will always be fish in the well. Unfortunately, when Neot fell ill his servant took two fish from the well, cooked them and gave them to Neot who, horrified, prayed over the meal and ordered the fish to return to the well. As the dead fish touched the water they came alive again.