St Piran's Oratory and Old Church

St Piran's Cross

Remains of the old parish church

The site of the oratory of St Piran is in the extensive dunes known as Penhale Sands.^[10][11] Legend has it that St Piran landed on Perran beach from his native Ireland and built the oratory in the Irish style. The structure revealed in 1835 was well preserved, lacking only its roof – however it was almost immediately vandalised, and subsequent misguided attempts at preservation resulted in considerable loss to the ancient fabric. The entirely stone-built high-gabled oratory was a very simple double square in plan and is just 30 feet (9.1 m) long externally, 25 by 12 feet internally. The interior was lit only by a small opening 8 inches above the stone altar where a headless skeleton was found, believed to be the saint himself. Three carved stone 'Celtic' heads, of a man, woman, and cat that originally surrounded the points of the cable-framed, decorated, round-headed lofty portal arch^[12][13] are in the care of the Royal Cornwall Museum following nineteenth-century vandalism.

Stepping down the three steps from the narrow south portal, a timber screen once separated the sanctuary from the square nave surrounded on the three remaining sides; north, west and south, by a foot-wide stone bench. A further narrow 'priests door' gave access directly into the sanctuary from the eastern gable.

The interior was apparently almost entirely unlit apart from two tiny penetrations, and the absence of timber finds on the waterlogged site^[14] suggest the roof may have been constructed as a drystone corbelled vault in the early western-Atlantic ecclesiastical tradition found from Ireland to Brittany – see for example the better preserved Gallarus Oratory in Ireland or the late medieval Dupath Well. Later medieval 'holy-well' architecture across Cornwall, Devon and Brittany often follows the earlier Celtic Christian corbelled drystone tradition and early Celtic reliquaries record how early high-gabled religious houses may once have looked.

Local community groups have established a fund for re-excavation of the site which began in early 2014.^[15][16]

The encroachment of the sand led to the oratory's abandonment in the 10th century. The noted 17th-century antiquary Richard Carew wrote:

St Piran too well brooketh his name in Sabuloe: for the sand carried up by the north wind from the seashore daily continueth covering and marring the land adjoinant, so as the distress of this deluge drove the inhabitants to remove their church. Howbeit when it meeteth with any crossing brook, the same (by a secret apathy) restraineth and barreth his farther encroaching that way. It was in consequence of this notion that the inhabitants, thinking such situation secure, removed their church only about 300 yards, it being on the opposite side of the brook.^[17]

When the oratory was abandoned, another church (now known as St Piran's Old Church, 50°21′57.04″N 5°8′2.88″W / 50.3658444°N 5.1341333°W / 50.3658444; -5.1341333) was built nearby on the inland side of the stream. As mentioned by Carew (above) it was thought the stream would protect the church from encroachment by sand. This proved to be the case for several hundred years and the church, completed by the 12th century, was enlarged in 1462. However, mining for tin caused the stream to dry up and eventually the church was engulfed by the dunes. The last service was held in 1795 after which the old church was partially dismantled and the materials used to build a new church inland. However, the old church's graveyard was used for burials until 1835 before sand enveloped it.^[18]

The Oratory in 1952 under a protective shell that was built before the sand was allowed to rebury it

The oratory site was excavated in 1910 but the remains of the stone building are now buried in the sand again. The site of St Piran's Old Church and the 10th century cross next to it was excavated in 1919.^[19][20]

St Piran's Cross (believed to be the earliest recorded stone cross in Cornwall) stands in the dunes between the oratory site and the graveyard of the old church. It is dedicated to tinners and miners and stands 8 feet (2.4 m) high.^[21] Arthur Langdon suggested that the shaft had once been ornamented but the ornament had not survived because of the poor quality of the granite.^[22]

In Norman times there was also a monastery (known as Lanpiran or Lamberran) near the oratory site but it was disendowed c1085 by Robert of Mortain.^[7] The relics of St Piran were preserved in St Piran Old Church which became a centre of pilgrimage. The relics are recorded in an inventory made in 1281 and were still venerated in the reign of Queen Mary I according to Nicholas Roscarrock's account.

Parish Church

The parish church of St Piran

The present parish church is situated in Perranzabuloe hamlet at grid reference SW 770,521. It was dedicated to St Piran in July 1805.^[7] Much of the structure is built of materials retrieved from St Piran's Old Church. Perranzabuloe church has a chancel and nave, a south aisle, and north and south transepts. One of the aisles is known as the Chyverton aisle and housed a pew belonging to the notable local family. The three-stage tower is battlemented, pinnacled and houses a ring of three bells.^[7] On 5 August 1878 there was a service by the Bishop of Truro, to re-open the church following a renovation with new pews and a ″wagon-headed″ roof for the chancel, to divide it from the nave.^[23]