The Church of St Buryan is a late-15th-century
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
in
St Buryan
St Buryan ( kw, Pluwveryan) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of St Buryan, Lamorna and Paul in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
The village of St Buryan is situated approximately west of Penzance along the B3283 to ...
in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, England.
Architectural history
A church has stood on the current site since ''c''.930. King
Athelstan stopped to pray at
Saint Buriana
Saint Buriana (or Berriona, Beriana or Beryan) was a 6th-century Irish saint, a hermit in St Buryan, near Penzance, Cornwall. Baring-Gould identifies her with the Irish Saint Bruinsech.
She is said to have been the daughter of an Irish king ...
's chapel, of which little now remains, during his conquest of Cornwall before his campaign against the
Scilly Isles
The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
. 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, with large sections having to be subsequently rebuilt. The current tower, completed in 1501,
[The Great Bells of St Buryan, Cornwall](_blank)
is high and constructed of wrought-cut granite from nearby
Lamorna
Lamorna ( kw, Nansmornow) is a village, valley and cove in west Cornwall, England, UK. It is on the Penwith peninsula approximately south of Penzance. Lamorna became popular with the artists of the Newlyn School, including Alfred Munnings, La ...
.
[
] Many years later the same granite was used to build Old
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...
. The tower 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 on 7 August 1875 the church was re-opened by,
Frederick Temple
Frederick Temple (30 November 1821 – 23 December 1902) was an English academic, teacher and churchman, who served as Bishop of Exeter (1869–1885), Bishop of London (1885–1896) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1896–1902).
Early life
T ...
, the
Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. Since 30 April 2014 the ordinary has been Robert Atwell. following another restoration. He also consecrated the new churchyard. 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.
The church is currently classified as a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
[
]
Status
Because of the nature of the original charter from
King Athelstan
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
, the parish of St Buryan was long regarded as a
Royal Peculiar
A royal peculiar is a Church of England parish or church exempt from the jurisdiction of the diocese and the province in which it lies, and subject to the direct jurisdiction of the monarch, or in Cornwall by the duke.
Definition
The church par ...
,
thus falling directly under the jurisdiction of the English monarch as a separate '
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
', rather than the Church. Between 1300 and 1473 arguments raged between The Crown and the
Bishops of Exeter
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
over the status of the parish, with no bishop willing to visit the parish as they had no jurisdiction, telling the King that they were afraid to meddle with St Buryan, "for none dares go there for fear of death and mutilation".
Arguments came to a head in 1327 when blood was shed in the churchyard, and in 1328 St Buryan was
excommunicated
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
by the Bishop and was not reinstated until 1336.
[Exeter Episcopal Registers] Only two of the King's appointed Deans appear to have actually lived in the 'diocese' of St Buryan for more than a few months, and the combination of these factors led to the subsequent ruinous state of the church in 1473. The Deanery was annexed in 1663 to the Bishopric of Exeter after the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
. However, it was again severed during the rule of 'Bishop' Harris, who thus became the first truly independent dean. The current diocese (i.e. in 1831) holds jurisdiction over the parishes of St Buryan,
St Levan
St Levan ( kw, Selevan) is a civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish is rural with a number of hamlets of varying size with Porthcurno probably being the best known. Hewn out of the cliff at Minack Point and overlooking the ...
, and
Sennen
Sennen (''Cornish: Sen Senan'' or ''Sen Senana'') is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles (13 km) west-southwest of Penzance.Ordnance Survey: Landra ...
.
The church bells
The Church's tower currently houses six handsome bells that call the faithful of St Buryan to worship. St Buryan's famous bells, which contain both the world's third heaviest treble bell and a magnificent tenor bell (the heaviest tenor bell of any six-bell peal), help give the church of St Buryan the heaviest peal of six bells anywhere in the world.
The tower was originally planned to house eight bells, the first such peal in Cornwall, and an order was placed with R. Pennington in 1638. However, a survey of the church in the late 19th century detailed that only three bells were present, dated 1638, 1681 and 1738, suggesting that the work was never completed and also that at least two restorations had occurred during the intervening years. In 1901 a substantial refurbishment was undertaken by Warner's bell foundry who recast two of the old bells and supplemented them with a new tenor whilst also re-tuning the old treble bell. The improved peal was then rehung in a new heavy-duty steel frame; however, the bells again fell into disuse due to a lack of interest from local ringer groups who much preferred the eight-bell peal of St Mary's church in nearby Penzance, and the bells soon became unringable. The bells were restored between 1990 and 2001 due to the efforts of Chris Venn, and the first phase of restoration completed in February 1991 with the rehanging of the original four bells. These were augmented by two bells cast at the
Whitechapel Bell Foundry
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells a ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
after a successful nationwide campaign raised the necessary £80,000 that was supported by the wife of the then
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Norma Major
Dame Norma Christina Elizabeth, Lady Major, (, formerly Johnson; born 12 February 1942) is an English philanthropist who is the wife of former British prime minister Sir John Major.
Early life
Norma Christina Elizabeth Wagstaff is the daught ...
, bringing the total to six. Bells are now rung regularly by an enthusiastic group from the village.
Organ
The church contains a pipe organ by Heard and Sons dating from 1895. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.
Churchyard
''Crosses in St Buryan parish'': Arthur Langdon (1896) records twelve crosses in the parish of which one is in the churchyard. A letter, dated 25 June 1879, to
The Cornishman
''The Cornishman'' is a weekly newspaper based in Penzance, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom which was first published on 18 July 1878. Circulation for the first two editions was 4,000. An edition is currently printed every Thursday. In early Fe ...
newspaper complained of the platform of the village cross, in front of the churchyard gate, being used as the site for the mid-summer bonfire, leaving the cross blackened and charred.
Augustus Smith (1804–1872), the first Lord Proprietor of the
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
is buried in the churchyard.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Buryan, Saint Buryan church
St Buryan
St Buryan ( kw, Pluwveryan) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of St Buryan, Lamorna and Paul in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
The village of St Buryan is situated approximately west of Penzance along the B3283 to ...
English Gothic architecture in Cornwall
Former Royal Peculiars
Grade I listed churches in Cornwall
Penwith