THE holy wells of West Devon and Torridge are the subject of a project which has just been awarded a grant from Tarka Country Millennium Awards.

Terry Faull from Bere Ferrers, who has just been awarded the grant, said the award was 'excellent'. 'It will enable me to carry out a project that I have long been interested in and give me the chance to do something worthwhile for the communities in the Tarka area,' he said.

The area covered by the grants stretches from Torridge and North Devon to the Cornish border and down to the bottom of Dartmoor — including the whole of the moor.

Mr Faull — who is interested in landscape history — said he would like to look at holy wells in the whole of Devon, but was starting in the West Devon and Torridge area. 'In parts of Britain, such as Cornwall, the wells are pretty well documented, but it has not been done in Devon in any detail.

'There's been a certain amount published in the 1950s and 60s. I also have a list of wells which I will check is correct by visiting parishes and talking to people and checking with various documents. There is also some historical information. I will build on that,' he said.

Locally he had found a holy well at Hallowell in Bere Ferrers — hence the place's name — and there was also said historically to be one under the church wall at Bere Ferrers. He was not sure where the latter was, but wondered if it was where there was 'a pipe sticking out of the wall with a sort of font'.

There is also a well beside the river in the centre of Tavistock, a couple in Okehampton, and one in Hatherleigh.

'A lot have fallen out of use, and the generations are going and information is being lost — it would be a shame if that information was lost forever. Some wells are falling into disrepair and my aim is to identify, record and stimulate an interest in them and hope that people in the parishes will adopt them,' Mr Faull said.

Anyone with any information which may be of assistance to Mr Faull in his project can contact him on 01822 841502.

A spokesperson for the Tarka awards said there was no black line and they had discretion.

If a project was off Dartmoor or outside the normal area it could still be considered if it had benefits for the communities inside it.

Anyone wishing to know more about the grants — which are for individuals — should contact 01237 472960.