St. Piran - Patron Saint of Cornish Tin Miners

St. Piran is patron saint of Cornish tin miners. It is thought that he was born in Ireland in around AD480, schooled in South Wales and returned to Ireland to found Clonmacnoise monastery, where he was known as Ciaran. He was then captured by heathen Irish who tied him to a millstone and threw him over cliffs during a storm. The storm abated and Piran floated across the sea to Cornwall where he built a hermitage on the vast Penhale sand dunes. He died at his hermitage. St. Piran's Oratory, claimed to be his original chapel although it may date from the 7th or 8th century, was excavated in the 1830s but lost again under the sand. At one time it was hidden under concrete but was later re-excavated. Now a stone and plaque mark its position, about equidistant from a modern cross and the remains of a later St. Piran's church. The oratory was in use until around 1150 when overwhelmed by dunes. The new church was built further inland but abandoned in 1804. An old granite Cornish cross stands by its ruins, subject of an archaeological dig in September 2005. The present church is at Perranzabuloe. A mile away is Piran Round. Only the name has a connection; this is actually the remains of an iron-age farmstead. St. Piran's flag is said to represent white tin flowing from black stone in Piran's hearth.

UPDATE 2014: Re-excavated in 2014 - see below

Stone and tablet marked Oratory location

St. Piran's Church - The September 2005 Archaeological