133 



St. PIRANS old CHURCH. 

 By THURSTAN C. PETER. 



So miicli has been from time to time written about this 

 church that an excuse is perhaps required from anyone who 

 ventures to refer to it again. In 1836 Mr. Trelawny-Colhns 

 pubhshed " Perranzabuloe, the lost church found," a very popu- 

 lar book at the time, but I should hope, now forgotten. It is a 

 kind of anti-popery lecture, in which the dying words of St. 

 Piran himself are reported as history without the slightest 

 intimation that the aiithor composed them himself. St. Piran' s 

 prophecy of the troubles that the papacy would cause when he 

 was dead are very edifying. As a contribution to archaeology the 

 book neither is, nor was intended to be, of any value. 



The Rev. Mr. Haslam published articles on the subject in 

 various magazines, &c., but we must confine our attention to two 

 only of his books. 



In the "West Briton" of 24th January, 1895, was a long 

 and very interesting article on the subject by Mr. J. V. Sigvald 

 Muller, of Newquay, in which, from papers and plans in his 

 possession, he showed that Mr. Haslam's little book, "Perran- 

 zabuloe, with an account of the past and present state of the 

 oratory of St. Piran in the Sands," fi^rst published in 1844,^ 

 and liis later work, " From Death unto Life," contained 

 statements which were absolutely irreconciliable witli the 

 real facts of the case. But, probably, few people filed the 

 " West Briton " — certainly but few people remember Mr. MuUer's 

 able and temperate exposure. In 1897 Prebendary Hingeston- 

 Randolph published the '2nd volume of his edition of the 

 Register of John de Grrandisson, bishoji of Exeter. On p. 607 

 is a record of the visitation of this church in 1331 by the 

 commissary of the dean and chapter of Exeter, which, translated, 

 reads as follows : — " Piran. There is here a sufficiently good 

 chalice. Six pairs of corporals with repositories, some being 

 worn. Three worn surplices. There is no nuptial veil. The 



I. We regret to say, at the request of this Institution, to whose members Mr. 

 Haslam had read a paper on the subject. 



