Description:

An archaeological structure below ground level at Chapel House which was excavated by a previous owner has reportedly been filled in. The structure near the front entrance to the house has four rectangular stone walls enclosing an earth floor approximately five feet below ground level.  In the centre of the floor is a stone-covered well or spring.

A note on this property in the Olchon Development Project Report (1999, p38) quoted below suggests that the site may have historical interest.

Ewyas Lacy Study Group

‘[Chapel House] does not appear on the Tithe survey of the 1840s and is not mentioned by the RCHM [Royal Commission on Historical Monuments].  The name may well indicate that this was the site of a Dark Ages holy well as found in parts of Wales and Ireland.  The Welsh name of the little collection of houses nearby – Pen-pwll-sond - may also date from that period.  It presumably means ‘the head or end of a scared pool’ which could well be a holy well.  The pool, which is there, has steps down to it reminiscent of the wells at Sancreed and St Leven in West Cornwall.  If it was ever church land, this could possibly be the reason for it not appearing on the Tithe survey.

This is an early site, but the present house seems to date from the last twenty years or so of the 19th century.’

Observations:

The Olchon Development Project Report is available at Hereford Library and Herefordshire Archives and Records Centre