PEZPH : 1992.1602 - Penlee House

Photograph

Acc.no: PEZPH : 1992.1602

Identification

Item: St Buryan Church

Description: A church has stood on the current site since c.930 when King Athelstan stopped to pray at Saint Buriana's chapel, of which little now remains, during his conquest of Cornwall prior to his campaign against the Scilly Isles. He vowed to erect a college of clergy where the oratory stood if God blessed his expedition with success. Upon his triumphant return, having subdued Scilly, Athelstan endowed a church in honour of Saint Buriana with a charter that established St Buryan as one of the earliest monasteries in Cornwall. The church structure was later enlarged and dedicated to the saint in 1238 by Bishop William Brewer. However, by 1473 the church had fallen into disrepair. The current tower, completed in 1501 is 92 feet (28 m) high and constructed of wrought cut granite from nearby Lamorna. It is divided into four stages and has double buttresses at each angle. An octagonal turret rises at the south-east corner and contains a spiral staircase. The bulk of the present church building was added in the late 15th and 16th century and the north wall re-built in the 18th century, at the same time as the demolition of a small lean-to chapel on the north wall of the chancel. In 1814, the church was restored yet again when the benches and screen were replaced and in 1956 the present Lady Chapel was erected as a gift of John Franklin Tonkin, in memory of his uncle, Robert Edmund Tonkin, of Treverven.