CORNISH DEDICATIONS. 101 



It has been conjectured that he is the same as S, Dagan, 

 but there is no hint in the legend that he came from Ireland, 

 and there is no tradition in Ireland that Dagan suffered a violent 

 death. 



S. Decuman is commemorated in Wales, where he is the 

 patron of Eosecrowther, in Pembrokeshire, and of Llandegeman, 

 an extinct chapel in the parish of Llanfihangel cwn Du, 

 Brecknochshire. 



We have no data by which to determine his date. 



S. Denys, Bishop, Martyr. 



There are two churches in Cornwall dedicated to this Saint, 

 Otterham, in the North East, and S. Dennis. 



There was also a chapel at Trevena, in Tintagel, dedicated 

 to him, and licensed in 1400 (Reg. Bp, Stafford). 



The dedication of S. Denis in Pydar is significant. 



The position of the church is remarkable, it stands In the 

 midst of an early dinas or fortification, on the summit of a 

 conical hill. 



The church was anciently called Landinas (Domesday), and 

 this gave occasion to its rededication to S. Denys, of Paris, 

 who was confounded in the Middle Ages with Dionysius the 

 Areopagite. Otterham occupies high ground and is a most 

 dreary and miserable spot. There is now no evidence of 

 fortification about the church, but as the Manor belonged to the 

 Champernownes it is possible that the baronial founder may 

 have been a devotee of the foreign Saint. 



Whytford says, " At Parys (Oct. 9), the feast of Saynt 

 Denyse a bysshop, Saynt Eustyke a preest, and Saynt Elewthery 

 a deacon, that by the Pope were sent to converte fraunce and 

 when in the sayd cite they had don theyr offyce with dilygence, 

 at the last they were taken and by the mayre Fesceiiy put to 

 deth all by the swerde." 



That there ever was a Dionysius, Bishop and Martyr, of 

 Paris, is very doubtful. The first to mention him is Gregory of 

 Tours some three hundred years after his presumed death, 

 which is set down as in A,D. 286, 



