Friday 5th July 2024
We drove down to Haven Perran Sands in Perranporth Cornwall. It was rain on and off on the long drive down. On arrival the rain had well and truly set in. We visited Aldi at Redruth first for shopping before arriving at the site.
We settled into our static caravan and then decided to take a look at the beach here. It was wet, very wet and windy, Sure it looks amazing in the sunshine.
With our coats soaked, we walk on over to the sites entertainment complex for a look about.
Back at the caravan after dinner, the rain had eased so I went on down to the beach again.
At least now I could see the views better, still gloomy though.
The bad weather doesn't seem to bother the surfers here though, suppose it meant bigger waves!
We went back to the Showbar later that night for Mel and George to enjoy some bingo!
Today we drove down to Perranporth to have a look about. We parked at Droskyn Car Park. Wasn't cheap but parking in Cornwall isn't!
We walk down the hill Cliff Road down to the beach and town.
The town's modern name comes from Porth Peran, the Cornish for The Cove of Saint Piran who is the patron saint of Cornwall. He founded the St Piran's Oratory on Penhale Sands, near Perranporth, in the 7th century. The Oratory was buried under sand dunes for many centuries, being unearthed in the 19th century. (I visit the Oratory later in the week.)
The beach faces west onto Perran Bay and the Atlantic Ocean and is a popular surfing location. There are lifeguard beach patrols from May to September and the beach is generally safe for bathing, although there are dangerous rip currents around Chapel Rock at ebb tides.
We walk over to Chapel Rock to climb to the top for the views.
Chapel Rock, with its flag pole and hidden swimming pool, is one of the most iconic and distinctive features of Perranporth beach.
Chapel Rock is so called because it allegedly used to have a chapel on top of it.
The Chapel Rock Pool.
The pool was made by building a wall onto an existing rock pool to capture the sea water that floods over it. This means that the pool is naturally refreshed twice a day when the tide comes in.
We climb back down and head on over to The Watering Hole, a pub here right on the beach.
The watering hole, the only bar on the beach in the UK, fact!
They are found in the middle of Cornwall’s finest beach on the west coast, with a 3 mile stretch of sand shadowed by dunes and sea as far as the eye can go, with Holywell on their right shoulder and St Agnes on their left.
I have a pint of Patchwork Rocket, George a Rattler Cornish Berries and Mel a hot chocolate!
We drive back to the site, Mel has a snooze while George and I head back down to the beach here.
This is called Penhale Sands and is covered by lifeguards at a small section and is great for surfing and bodyboarding.
We head back to the Showbar for bingo. Mel wins £83 !!
We walk back to the caravan, Mel and George are tired so I head back to the beach.
I walk on over the cliff to see how far the walk is into Perranporth from the site.
It really wasn't far at all so I end up walking down back into Perranporth. Probably a mile tops and there is a bit of a climb back up the cliff on the way back.
The sunsetting over the sea is just gorgeous and gives it a warm glow.
Surrounded by tall cliffs and rolling dunes, this vast sandy beach has something for everyone, whether that be snorkeling, sunbathing or a splash about in the surf. It’s no wonder Perranporth Beach was winner of the Seaside Award 2022!
Perranporth is an area shrouded in Cornish myth and legend. It is said that in the 5th century AD Saint Piran, the patron saint of Cornish miners, was tied to a mill-stone and thrown off the cliffs in Ireland.
Rather than sinking, the seas immediately became calm and he floated across the water all the way to Cornwall, where he washed up on Perran Sands, adjacent to Perranporth. Saint Piran built a Christian oratory behind the beach, whose ruins still stand today.
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| The Watering Hole |
Today, Perranporth’s Atlantic swell attracts surfers from far and wide, but it is a little known fact that the very roots of British surfing are owed to the area. In the 1930s, after seeing the popularity of surfing in countries such as Australia and South Africa, Brits returning home were determined to acquire their own boards. Tom Tremewan, a Perranporth local, created some of Britain’s earliest surfboards from whatever wood he had handy, including coffin lids!
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| Chapel Rock |
I walk back to the caravan for the night. A great day in far better weather than yesterday!
Today we drove just over an hour to Tintagel and parked up in Tintagel Car Park.
We walked up on through Tintagel looking in a few shops. We reached the reception of English Heritage Tintagel Castle and paid for the three of us to enter. Not cheap but was a place I have wanted to visit for some time.
We walk down a steep hill down to Tintagel Castle. What a splendid view with the grassy slops rolling down to the deep turquoise sea swells below.
The village and nearby Tintagel Castle are associated with the legends surrounding King Arthur and in recent times have become a tourist attraction. It was claimed by Geoffrey of Monmouth that the castle was an ancient residence of King Arthur.
Tintagel is used by the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson in the poem Idylls of the King and Algernon Charles Swinburne's Tristram of Lyonesse, and Thomas Hardy's The Famous Tragedy of the Queen of Cornwall at Tintagel in Lyonnesse, is a play published in 1923, which perpetuates the same legend.
Tourists can visit King Arthur's Great Halls at Trevena which is a substantial building of the early 1930s. The Artognou stone, which was discovered in 1998, has added to the legend, although historians do not believe the inscription refers to King Arthur.
Toponymists have had difficulty explaining the origin of 'Tintagel': the probability is that it is Norman French, as the Cornish of the 13th century would have lacked the soft 'g' ('i/j' in the earliest forms: see also Tintagel Castle). If it is Cornish then 'Dun' would mean Fort. Oliver Padel proposes 'Dun' '-tagell' meaning narrow place in his book on place names. There is a possible cognate in the Channel Islands named Tented'Agel, but that still leaves the question subject to doubt.
The name first occurs in Geoffrey of Monmouth's HistoriaRegum Britanniae (c. 1136, in Latin) as Tintagol, implying pronunciation with a hard [g] sound as in modern English girl. But in Layamon's Brut (MS Cotton Otho C.xi, f. 482), in early Middle English, the name is rendered as Tintaieol.
The modern-day village of Tintagel was always known as Trevena (Cornish: Tre war Venydh) until the Post Office started using 'Tintagel' as the name in the mid-19th century. Until then, 'Tintagel' had been restricted to the name of the headland and of the parish.
A small cliff castle was established at Bossiney in Norman times, probably before the Domesday Survey of 1086. In Domesday Book, there are certainly two manors in this parish (for a probable third see Trethevy).
Bossiney and Trevena were established as a borough in 1253 by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall. Bossiney (which included Trevena) was held from the monks of Bodmin by the Earl of Cornwall: there was land for six ploughs and 30 acres (120,000 m2) of pasture (before the Conquest it had been held from the monks by Alfwy). The monks of Bodmin held Treknow themselves: there was land for eight ploughs and 100 acres (400,000 m2) of pasture. Tintagel was one of the 17 Antiqua maneria of the Duchy of Cornwall. The parish feast traditionally celebrated at Tintagel was 19 October, the feast day of St Denys, patron of the chapel at Trevena (the proper date is 9 October but the feast has moved forward due to the calendar reform of 1752). The market hall and the site of the fair were near the chapel. "Tintagel (Trevena) declined towards the end of the medieval period for it was ill-equipped to take up fishing as an alternative occupation. Paradoxically it now enjoys a temporary prosperity as a result of tourist interest in the castle which was converted so romantically by Geoffrey of Monmouth into an ancient residence of King Arthur." (W. G. V. Balchin 1954)
The Tithe Commissioners' survey was carried out in 1840–41 and recorded the area of the parish as 4,280 acres (17.3 km2), of which arable and pasture land was 3,200 acres (13 km2). The land owned by the largest landowner, Lord Wharncliffe, amounted to 1,814 acres (7.34 km2), and there was 125 acres (0.51 km2) of glebe land. Precise details of the size and tenure of every piece of land are given. Sidney Madge did research into the history of the parish and compiled a manuscript Records of Tintagel in 1945.The villages of Trevena and Bossiney were until the early 20th century separated by fields along Bossiney Road.
Artifacts from the the time of Roman rule in Britain have been found on the site, but no evidence of building. A building did stand on the site beween about 350 and 850 CE that was once thought to be a Celtic Christian monastery but is now thought to be more likely associated with Dumnonian royalty and rich international trade. Today’s ruined keep was built in the 13th century by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, a younger brother of King Henry III. It is on the site of a stronghold of previous earls going back to the 1140s.
There could hardly be a more suitable stronghold for the birthplace of the legendary King Arthur. It was there, the enduring legend (begun by Geoffrey of Monmouth) has it, that Merlin, the great enchanter, turned King Uther Pendragon into the likeness of the lord of the castle so that the king could enjoy his beautiful wife, Igraine. That night she conceived Arthur. Rocks below the castle have been given names like Arthur’s Chair, and, perhaps inevitably, there is also a Merlin’s Cave. Tintagel is also home to an earlier enduring romantic legend, that of Tristan and Isolde, and it is possible that that legend inspired Richard of Cornwall to build his castle there.
We walk on around the head and up to the statue of Gallos.
Gallos was commissioned by English Heritage from the sculptor Rubin Eynon, It took six months to design, sculpt and cast. Gallos portrays a figure 8 ft (2.4 m) tall in a cloak, resting on a sword and wearing a crown. The figure at Tintagel Castle is only partly rendered, with open gaps left in the sculpture through which the viewer can see the landscape beyond, giving a spectral appearance.
The sculpture has become a popular attraction at the castle site. The statue has been popularly associated with Arthur and has commonly become known as the "King Arthur Statue". However, English Heritage states that it is not a depiction of a single person, and is inspired by the likely use of the site as a summer residence for the kings of the sub-Roman state of Dumnonia as well as the Arthurian legend. They prefer that the viewer makes their own interpretation of the work and consider that the sculpture may represent something more than a human. The name "Gallos" is Cornish for "power".
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We follow the path around and start our decent down to Merlin's Cave.
In August 2019, a landmark project was finished to reconnect Tintagel's divided landscape. In the Middle Ages, Tintagel's residents walked from one side of the site to the other using a narrow land bridge as high as the clifftops. But the crossing disappeared between the 14th and 17th centuries, leaving the castle divided by a natural chasm.
The new Tintagel Bridge reinstates the original route, offering visitors the chance to experience Tintagel Castle the way its medieval inhabitants once did.
Merlin's Cave is a cave located beneath Tintagel Castle, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south-west of Boscastle, Cornwall, England. It is 100 metres (330 ft) long, passing completely through Tintagel Island from Tintagel Haven on the east to West Cove on the west. It is a sea cave formed by marine erosion along a thrust plane between slate and volcanic rocks. The cave fills with water at high tide, but has a sandy floor and is explorable at low tide.
Tennyson made Merlin's Cave famous in his Idylls of the King, describing waves bringing the infant Arthur to the shore and Merlin carrying him to safety.
Tintagel is intricately linked with the tales surrounding the legendary King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. And no story that involves Arthur is complete without mention of the oh-so mysterious magician Merlin.
If those tales are to be believed, Merlin spent much of his life in the caves that today bear his name. In fact, they make it clear that it was only because of his cave dwelling that he was able to rescue an infant Arthur from the waves when he drifted ashore as an abandoned castaway.
Wave after wave, each mightier than the last,
Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep
And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged
Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame:
And down the wave and in the flame was borne
A naked babe, and rode to Merlin’s feet,
Who stoopt and caught the babe, and cried "The King!
Here is an heir for Uther!
Made famous by Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Arthurian poem the Idylls of the King, the cave is located almost immediately beneath the rocks supporting Tintagel Castle, on a small beach. You'll even find a contemporary carving of his likeness close to the entrance of the cave.
Here on the beach by Merlin's cave is a magnificent waterfall crashing down onto the beach below.
A sea cave created by the power of the Atlantic Ocean over thousands of years, it passes right through the Tintagel peninsula (also known as Tintagel Island) for approximately 100 metres.
Although Merlin's Cave can be explored at low tide, the cave does fill with seawater during the high tide, meaning care should be taken when visiting. You'll need to know the tide times, and have a torch handy too. Steps lead down to the beach and cave, however the last few have been worn smooth by constant wave action, resulting in the need for a short (and not particularly difficult) clamber over the last of the rocks.
I cant resist the sea and have to have a paddle!
The sea nice and warm but full of seaweed that collected around your legs.
I try my best to teach George to skim stones.
English Heritage launched a competition in 2015 to find the best team to design the new bridge. The winning concept was created by Ney & Partners Civil Engineers and William Matthews Associates.
The aim was to find a bridge specifically tailored to Tintagel Castle, harmonising with the iconic coastal landscape. The design sees two cantilevers reach out and meet, not quite touching, with a 40mm gap in the middle. The gap represents the transition from the mainland to the island, present to past.
The bridge is paved with Cornish Delabole slate, with stainless steel balustrades fitted along its length. The balustrades have been designed to be so fine that, when viewed from a distance, they disappear against the sky.
One of the key considerations when building the bridge was logistics. How would we get the large building materials up to the clifftop castle? After some aerial lifting with helicopters, EH installed a cable crane at the site to transport equipment and build the foundations. EH conducted a series of geotechnical investigations ahead of the work, making sure the bedrock could support it.
Meanwhile, a steel fabrication company based in Plymouth had begun work on the bridge’s steel sections. They made 18 in total to create the 70m walkway. After a trial run in the workshop, the sections were brought to the castle and slotted into position, recreating the historic link between the mainland and island one piece at a time.
We left the castle and walked the steep climb back up, there is a Land rover taxi service back up you could pay for, but Mel was happy to walk back up.
We stop along the street for Ice Cream and George wanted chips a little further along.
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| The Old Post Office. |
Tintagel Old Post Office is a 14th-century stone house, built to the plan of a medieval manor house, situated in Tintagel, Cornwall, England. The house, and its surrounding cottage garden, are in the ownership of the National Trust, and the building is Grade I listed.
The name dates from the Victorian period when it briefly held a licence to be the letter receiving station for the district. The Trust has restored it to this condition. It was among the early acquisitions of the Trust (1903) and closes in the winter months.
The building was acquired by the Trust from its owner Catherine Eliza Johns (died 1925) who had employed the architect Detmar Blow to renovate it in 1896. (Blow was also responsible for some buildings at Treknow in the 1890s.) Catherine Johns had bought it in 1895 to prevent its demolition. She and a number of other artists then raised money to enable the National Trust to buy it from her.
We left Tintagel and drove back to Perran Sands.
George and I headed down to the beach by the site to have a go at Bodyboarding.
The beach here is covered by lifeguards and we were shouted at to stay within the flags, difficult when the tide washes you off to one side!
It was a lot of fun and the water is shallow a long way out and was warm.
There were quite a few surfers here too.
That night was more bingo and drinks at the Showbar.
Today it was forecast for a lot of rain, so we headed just up the road to Newquay, where we would be able to duck into shops in between the showers.
Located on Cornwall’s Atlantic Coast, Newquay has previously been voted as “One of the Nation's Favourite Seaside Towns” in the prestigious Which Holiday Survey, “Best Family Holiday Destination” by readers of COAST magazine, and has won Gold for “Best Seaside Towns for Families” by Days Out with the Kids. Newquay also has some of Cornwall’s finest beaches! Newquay’s laid-back charm is here for everyone to enjoy.
We look about the shops and amusement arcades before heading down to Newquay Harbour.
The present harbour in Newquay was built by Richard Lomax in 1833 and completed by JT Treffry, mining entrepreneur, although there was originally a medieval quay at Newquay, evidenced as early as 1439.
The 19th century acted as a catalyst in the transformation of the settlement from small village to successful town. Lomax commenced work on the present day north and south piers but died in 1836 before the work was completed. In 1838 mining entrepreneur, JT Treffry, bought the estate that was offered for sale and which included the harbour, and completed its construction. Treffry had ambitions to turn Newquay into an import/export harbour serving his interests in metalliferous mining and china clay extraction inland.
Newquay Harbour is a fishing and pleasure Harbour, there are tidal moorings, operating seasonal activities and all year-round fishing vessels. It is the largest fishing port on the North Cornwall coast for the landing of shellfish. The RNLI also have a station located in the harbour.
We stood here for a while watching the dogs play in the water before walking back up into town.
We walked round onto Towan Beach.
Sitting in the lee of Towan Head to the west this is Newquay's most sheltered beach and nestles up against the town's harbour. This makes it an ideal family beach with the waves here being generally small in all but the stormiest conditions.
Perhaps the beach's most iconic feature though is 'the Island', or Jago's Island to give it the correct name. This tall stack of rock at the eastern end of the beach seems an improbable place for a home, but that's exactly what it is. There has been a house atop this island from the turn of the twentieth century. Built in 1901, its various illustrious owners have included Alexander Lodge, the inventor of the spark plug whose entertained guests such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.
These days the house is a luxury holiday rental which can be yours for the week for a small fee...
At low tide the sand at Towan connects with that of Great Western beach and the rest of the beaches in Newquay Bay to make a continuous 2 mile stretch of beach. As the tide comes in though, Towan shrinks markedly becoming a cosy little cove.
We left Newquay and headed back to Perran Sands site for swimming that we had booked. More bingo and drinks before bed.
We drove about an hour over to Falmouth to have a look about. we parked at Town Quarry car park and walked down into town.
The name Falmouth is of English origin, a reference to the town's situation on the mouth of the River Fal. The Cornish language name, Aberfal or Aberfala, is of identical meaning. It was at one time known as Pennycomequick, an Anglicisation of the Celtic Pen-y-cwm-cuic 'head of the creek'; this is the same as Pennycomequick, a district in Plymouth.
We strolled about looking in the shops here.
In 1540, Henry VIII built Pendennis Castle in Falmouth to defend Carrick Roads. The main town of the district was then at Penryn. Sir John Killigrew created the town of Falmouth shortly after 1613.
In the late 16th century, under threat from the Spanish Armada, the defences at Pendennis were strengthened by the building of angled ramparts. During the Civil War, Pendennis Castle was the second to last fort to surrender to the Parliamentary Army.
After the Civil War, Sir Peter Killigrew received royal patronage when he gave land for the building of the Church of King Charles the Martyr, dedicated to Charles I, "the Martyr".
The seal of Falmouth was blazoned as "An eagle displayed with two heads and on each wing with a tower" (based on the arms of Killigrew). The arms of the borough of Falmouth were "Arg[ent]. a double-headed eagle displayed Sa[ble]. each wing charged with a tower Or. in base issuant from the water barry wavy a rock also Sa. thereon surmounting the tail of the eagle a staff also proper flying therefrom a pennant Gu[les]".
We walked on through the town and down some steps past an old ships head, but this goes nowhere so we walk back up.
We walk down into the harbour where a woman was trying to save a boat filled with water had submerged, she lifted it up so far out of the water on a rope and gave up letting it sink back down into the depths. Here are lots of huts selling tickets for a boat ride to St Mawes.
Falmouth Docks are a deep-water docks of the town of Falmouth in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The docks are the southern shore of the Fal Estuary which is the third largest natural harbour in the world and the deepest in Europe. They extend over 30 hectares (74 acres) and covers a range of services to shipping such as repair, refuelling, cleaning and disposal of waste services. The docks are served by the Falmouth Docks railway station. Policing is by the Falmouth Docks Police.
Being the nearest large harbour to the entrance of the English Channel, two Royal Navy squadrons were permanently stationed here. In the 1790s one was under the command of Sir Edward Pellew (later Viscount Exmouth) and the other under the command of Sir John Borlase Warren. Each squadron consisted of five frigates, with either 32 or 44 guns. Pellew's flagship was HMS Indefatigable and Warren's HMS Révolutionnaire. At the time of the French Revolutionary Wars, battle ships and small vessels were continually arriving with war prizes taken from the French ships and prisoners of war. Near Penryn, at Tregellick and Roscrow, were two large camps for the French prisoners.
In 1805 news of Britain's victory and Admiral Nelson's death at Trafalgar reached Falmouth from the schooner Pickle and was taken to London by post chaise. On 2 October 1836 HMS Beagle anchored at Falmouth at the end of her noted survey voyage around the world. That evening, Charles Darwin left the ship and took the Mail coach to his family home at The Mount, Shrewsbury.[14] The ship stayed a few days and Captain Robert FitzRoy visited the Fox family at nearby Penjerrick Gardens. Darwin's shipmate Sulivan later made his home in the nearby waterside village of Flushing, then home to many naval officers.[citation needed]
In 1839 Falmouth was the scene of a gold dust robbery when £47,600 worth of gold dust from Brazil was stolen on arrival at the port.
The Falmouth Docks were developed from 1858, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) opened Falmouth Lifeboat Station nearby in 1867. The present building dates from 1993 and also houses Her Majesty's Coastguard. The RNLI operates two lifeboats from Falmouth: Richard Cox Scott, a 17-metre (56 ft) Severn-class all-weather boat, and B-916 Robina Nixon Chard, an Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat.
We out of town and up a hill to a view to the harbour below.
During World War II, 31 people were killed in Falmouth by German bombing. An anti-submarine net was laid from Pendennis to St Mawes, to prevent enemy U-boats entering the harbour.
It was the launching point for the St Nazaire Raid in 1942. Between 1943 and 1944, Falmouth was a base for American troops preparing for the D-Day invasions. Many of the troops involved embarked from Falmouth harbour and the surrounding rivers and creeks. There are commemorative plaques at Turnaware Point, Falmouth Watersports marina, Tolverne and Trebah gardens. The United States Navy had a large base in Falmouth harbour as well.
We stop at the Wetherspoon Pub (The Packet Station) for lunch before driving back to Perran Sands.
Back at the caravan Mel and George had a snooze whilst I went off for a walk to try and find St Pirans Oratory in the dunes near Perran Sands.
A walk through the dunes following the map I come across a huge stone cross atop a large sand Dune.
I climb up to the cross but this isn't the St Pirans Cross, I visit that soon.
Down below I can see St Pirans Oratory.
I walk down the dune to the Oratory.
Half-buried in the dunes of Penhale Beach, north of Perranporth, are the remarkable remains of one of Britain's oldest Christian sites, the 6th-century remains of an oratory established by Piran, an Irish saint who landed on the beach here after exile from his homeland.
The saint's oratory, or chapel, remained in use until the 10th century when shifting sand forced its abandonment in favour of a new church in a more sheltered location just inland. That new church, in turn, was overwhelmed by the sand and was abandoned in 1804, leaving not one but two historic churches buried beneath the dunes. Both the Oratory and St Piran's Old Church, as it became known, have been excavated and are now open to be seen.
Curiously, though the Oratory is of ancient origin, the first written record of its existence doesn't come until 1540 when it was mentioned by the Tudor antiquarian John Leland.
According to legend, Piran was a 5th or 6th-century Irish monk. A jealous ruler feared his power, and had him thrown from a high cliff with a millstone tied to his neck. As his enemies watched in consternation, rather than drowning the saint began to float on his millstone across the sea towards Cornwall.
After many days floating on his unusual craft, Piran came ashore safely on a beach. The place now bears his name; Perranporth.
St Piran built a chapel on the beach. His first converts to Christianity were said to be a badger, a boar, and a fox, but soon news of his powerful preaching spread and people began to travel from long distances away to see him. Piran not only gained a reputation for miraculous powers but also as a prodigious drinker, giving rise to the expression, 'as drunk as a Perraner'. St Piran is said to have lived to the ripe old age of 206.
St Piran became the patron saint of Cornwall, and he is revered as the patron saint of tinners. He was said to have discovered tin smelting, though tin mining was carried out in Cornwall long before his arrival. The Cornish flag we know today uses his white cross on a black background, symbolic of the white tin emerging from the black ore, and also of spiritual truth shining amidst the darkness.
Though the Oratory was engulfed by sands as early as the 10th century it was exposed to view by the late 18th century, In 1835 archaeologist William Mitchell excavated the Oratory and a nearby building thought to be a baptistry, or Priest's House. A few years later in 1843 the local curate, William Haslam, rebuilt the altar and added an inscribed stone carved with 'Sanctus Piranus', the Latin for 'St Piran'.The excavated Oratory became a popular destination for visitors, but unfortunately its popularity had negative consequences. Some visitors damaged the buildings and took away pieces of stone as souvenirs. To protect the ancient structure it was enclosed by railings in the 1890s to keep people out. The ever-present sand put pressure on the walls, causing structural damage. In 1910 the entire complex was encased in a stupendously ugly concrete structure to protect it.
Archaeologist Dr TG Dexter, writing in 1922, vividly expressed his feelings about the state of the Oratory when he wrote, 'If the buried church could speak, she would complain bitterly of the writers who have misunderstood her, of the trippers who have robbed her, of the Church that sold her, and of the enthusiasts who have entombed her in that hideous concrete structure'.
Continuing problems with vandalism and flooding led to the decision to bury the entire site in 1980.
In 2015 St Piran's Trust re-excavated the building, though the concrete structure remains. There are occasional open days when you can enter inside, but the gate is locked at other times. Thankfully you can see inside the Oratory from the high and banks that surround it, and so get a very good sense of the building. The interior is frequently flooded; indeed it was covered in water when we visited. You can still easily make out the ancient altar and the arched doorways.
The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded a settlement known as Lanpiran (Piran's Church), which may have been focused on the Oratory. The Oratory stands within an ancient burial ground, and skeletons are often unearthed near the site. During the re-burial of the Oratory site in 1980, a dozen stone cists were found containing human bones.
The Oratory is still a destination for pilgrims, and there is an annual procession on 5 March, St Piran's feast day, to the Oratory and the Old Church.
I walk on a small distance and reach St Piran's Church and Cross.
Amid the windblown dunes of Penhale Sands, near Perranporth, lie the remains of St Piran's Oratory, one of the oldest and most important sacred sites in Britain, second only in age to Iona Abbey in Scotland. The Oratory was established by Piran, or Perran, a 6th-century Irish monk. When the Oratory was engulfed by sand in the 10th century a new church was built a hundred yards or so to the north, sheltered from the sand by a small stream. It is possible that the new church and the older Oratory co-existed for a time.
In a curious twist, this new church was in turn overcome by the sand after tin mining caused the stream to dry up. In 1804 it was abandoned too, and a new church built several miles inland. So the 'new' church is now known as St Piran's Old Church to distinguish it from its 19th-century replacement.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The Old Church was built as the local parish church, but by the 12th century it had been re-founded on collegiate lines, with a priest and several canons.
The college of canons looked after a reliquary in the form of a silver casket, which was said to contain the skull of St Piran. Pilgrims made the journey to see the skull and the church became a popular stopping place for those travelling to Compostela in Spain.
St Piran's relics were sometimes carried in a procession around Cornwall. In addition to the silver casket, the procession included a bejewelled pastoral staff covered with silver and gold, a copper bell, a silver cross, and a cross made of bone.
The saint's relics were lost at the Reformation, and the church drifted into obscurity. Perhaps drifted is the right word, for drifting sand eventually became such a problem that in the 17th century the local people petitioned the canons of Exeter Cathedral to move the church to a safer site. The move was not agreed for a century, and the last marriage ceremony was held here in 1795, though burials continued until 1835.
The Old Church was dismantled stone by stone and carried the two miles to the new church site at Perranzabuloe. The Old Church site was then left to be buried beneath the sand.
Amid the dunes of Penhale Sands, just a stone's throw from the early medieval St Piran's Old Church, stands one of the oldest stone crosses in Cornwall. The cross and the church stand within an ancient oval enclosure dating to the pre-Christian period.
St Piran's Cross stands just over 8 feet high (2.4m) and is the only three-holed cross in Cornwall. The wheel-head has holes through the top and sides of the cross-head, but where you would expect the bottom hole to be is only a depression in the stone. Was it simply left unfinished?
The cross stands just south of the Penhale Army Training Estate and within the huge sand dune system of Penhale Sands, the largest sand dune ecosystem in Cornwall. The dunes have been named a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
The cross was mentioned as a boundary marker in a 10th-century charter, where it was called 'Cristen-mael'.
The cross may have been erected to mark the trail to the nearby Oratory of St Piran, established by the 6th-century Irish missionary Piran, the patron saint of Cornwall. Piran's Oratory was buried by sand and abandoned in favour of St Piran's Old Church. The Old Church, in turn, was abandoned and a new church built further inland at Perramzabuloe.
I walk on back pass the Oratory and back through the dunes to the beach.
Back at the caravan for dinner before another night at the Show Bar.
This was the day I walked on the South West Coast Path from Newquay to Perranporth. See blog below for this day.
Thursday 11th July 2024
We decided to visit St Nectan's Waterfall on the way home, we are leaving a day early as Dad is in hospital and I want to get back to see him. We would have gone here today anyway and only missing out on a night at the clubhouse so wasn't missing much, family comes first!
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| St Nectans Well |
We park the car in the car park cross the road and walk up a track passing St Nectans Well.
We walk up a lane towards the woodland walk to St Nectans Glen.
St Nectan’s Glen is a place where fauna take refuge amid tales of fairies, piskies and spirits, serenaded by the wonderful sound of bird song and a babbling river. Once you have reached the top of the woodland walk your journey continues through legend and discovery, so allow yourself to explore the lushness of this site.
St Nectan's Glen has been described as amongst the ten most important spiritual sites in the country. There never was a St Nectan, the name is a Christianised form of the Cornish water god - Nechtan.
Located deep in a hidden valley near Tintagel and not far from Rocky Glen, St Nectan's Glen has been described as amongst the ten most important spiritual sites in the country.
There never was a St Nectan, the name is a Christianised form of the Cornish water god - Nechtan. The way down to the water is steep and slippery, but so beautiful. Hundreds of clouties, messages and small offerings crowd the minute ledges of the steep sides of the glen. It can only be reached on foot, but it is well worth the effort.
It was a 40-minute walk to the waterfall and some steep uphill bits.
We eventually make it to the visitor centre, use the loos and take time to stop and watch the Peacock and Peahens here.
We pay the entrance fee and make our way through the gate towards the waterfall.
Admission Prices
Adult £9.00
Child (5-15) £5.00
Adult £9.00
Child (5-15) £5.00
Through the centuries, the river Trevillet has carved its way through Late Devonian slate, creating a magnificent 60-foot waterfall which has punched a hole through the original kieve (basin). The water now cascades from this through the beautiful flora-laden valley.
St Nectan’s kieve is revered as a sacred place, where numerous ribbons, crystals, photographs, inscriptions, prayers and other devotions now adorn the foliage and rock walls near the waterfall. You will even find a number of small stacks of flat stones, known as Faerie Stacks, constructed from stones collected from the waters by visitors, marking a special thought or moment in time during their visit, or to commemorate memories and loved ones.
It is believed that a building (known as the Hermitage) located at the top of the waterfall belonged to the sixth-century Saint Nectan. The date of the building is uncertain but according to legend, Saint Nectan rang a silver bell in times of stormy weather to warn passing ships of the perils of the rocks at the mouth of Rocky Valley. It is also understood that the ruins of a Christian chapel provide the lower part of the walls of a cottage erected in the 1860s, and extended around 1900.
Many myths and legends, from King Arthur and his knights to ghostly sightings surround this place; but one undeniable fact is that it is a place of mystical and spiritual natural beauty.
Legend has it that St Nectan lived as a hermit above the 60 foot waterfall, where he could see to the coast and would ring a bell to warn ships away from the rocky Cornish coastline. The tagline of ‘one of the UK’s most spiritual sites’ is a fairly new invention, but visitors come from all over to visit the meditation room and tie prayer ribbons to tree branches near the water.
We walk down to the base of the waterfall and take off our shoes to walk in the cold but refreshing water of the river Trevillet and up to the falls themselves.
St Nectan’s kieve has been carved by the river Trevillet which weaves through the valley, creating one of the most stunning waterfalls of its kind. With its spectacular outlet from which water spills into a shallow pool of crystal clear water, before continuing its way to the glen below, it’s truly mesmerising. Mosses, fern and grasses adorn the fall, fringing every rock with a native drapery of the most exquisite beauty.
St Nectan’s kieve is the site’s main waterfall attraction but not the only waterfall you’ll be able to delight your eyes and soul with.
Following on from the shallow pool at the feet of the kieve, water flows down into the stream and offers another beautiful waterfall scene to the valley below. You might even be lucky enough to spot another, more secluded waterfall near which we have opened an eco-friendly walkway through the woods to explore beyond, allowing better access to this little gem which was previously unseen and not accessible by the public.
The River Trevillet gushes over the slate, through a natural circular window and into a shallow pool. The dark walls of the waterfall are speckled with bursts of green ferns like fireworks, and patches of moss and ivy. The water runs further down the valley following the way we walked up.
There's something special listening to the water crashing down the rocks and into the river below, so relaxing.
Such a beautiful place, shame its marred by a gift shop and entrance fees!
That said at least with fees, it keeps the numbers down and sadly litter. At least the owners look after this wonderful place.
The area around the waterfall is home to two rare moss species and two rare liverwort species. Since 1985, the region has been recognized as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because of these unique plant specimens.
St Nectan was supposedly the brother of St Morwenna. And it is said that after his death he was buried here beneath the falls.
Besides the eerie tolling of the bell the valley also has its fair share of ghosts. King Arthur and his knights are said to haunt this place. Ghostly hooded figures are encountered by walkers in the woods and then there is the strange story of the two grey women.
They were thought to be the sisters of the Saint, come to follow the wishes of their brother and bury him and “his sacramental vessels and treasures in an oak chest under the waterfall”. However Cyrus Redding writing in 1842 says that their identity was a mystery.
“The inhabitants of the neighbourhood have another tale about this place”
Redding describes two ancient ladies who appeared suddenly in the valley and moved into the hermitage. No one knew them and from their accents they were strangers to Cornwall. However their dress showed that they were persons of good quality. Nevertheless they kept themselves apart from the community, eating only food they foraged from the woods. Redding says they seemed anxious to attract as little notice as possible. They continued living in the Glen for many years. Eventually one of the sisters died. The vilkagers watched as the other sister wasted away in grief. But who the women were remained a mystery that they took to their graves. Mystified the community buried the two sisters together under a large flat stone in the glen. And it is said that their spirits, known as the grey ladies, haunt the lane that leads down to the well.
We are back at the visitor centre, we buy a drink before our walk back to the car. We then drive home, a long 7 hour drive back thanks to the M25 and its queues. 2 hours alone on the M25!
Back home and time to visit Dad. It has been an amazing week!
