St Buryan
Encyclopedia
St Buryan is a civil parish and village in Cornwall
, United Kingdom
.
The village of St Buryan is situated approximately five miles (8 km) west of Penzance
along the B3283
towards Land's End
. Three further minor roads also meet at St Buryan, two link the village with the B3315
towards Lamorna
, and the third rejoins the A30
at Crows-an-Wra
.
St Buryan parish encompasses the villages of St. Buryan, Lamorna
, and Crows-an-wra
and shares boundaries with the parishes of Sancreed
and St Just
to the north, Sennen
and St Levan
(with which it has close ties) to the west, with Paul
to the east and by the sea in the south.
Named after the Irish
Saint Buriana
, the parish is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is a popular tourist destination. It has been a designated conservation area
since 1990 and is near many sites of special scientific interest
in the surrounding area.
The parish is dotted with evidence of Neolithic
activity, from stone circles and Celtic cross
es to burial chambers and ancient holy wells. The village of St Buryan itself is also a site of special historic interest, and contains many listed buildings including the famous grade I listed Church. The bells of St Buryan Church
, which have recently undergone extensive renovation, are the heaviest full circle peal of six anywhere in the world. The parish also has a strong cultural heritage.
Many painters of the Newlyn School
including Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch
were based at Lamorna in the south of the parish. St Buryan Village Hall was also the former location of Pipers Folk Club, created in the late 1960s by celebrated Cornish singer Brenda Wootton
.Today St Buryan is a prominent local centre housing many important amenities.
. It is more elevated at its northern part and slopes gently north to south-east towards the sea. Chapel Carn Brea
, (50°09'N, 5°65W), often described as the first hill in Cornwall (from a westerly perspective), sits at its northernmost edge and rises 657 feet (200 m) above sea level The hill is also an important historical site showing evidence of neolithic activity, as well as the remains of the chapel from which it is named. Toward the south is the village of St Buryan, which sits on a plateau and is centrally sited within the parish. Further to the south the terrain slopes down toward the sea, ending in several deep cut river valleys at Lamorna
, Penberth
and St Loy
that are both sheltered and heavily forested. West of St Buryan, toward St Levan, the terrain again gently descends, causing the ground to become more marsh
y and waterlogged and less suitable for growing arable crops. East of the village the land also slopes away toward Drift
, and its reservoir
, past the wooded area at Pridden
and the deep cut valley at Trelew
(in which a steep embankment has been built to carry the B3283 road). Other settlements of note in the parish include Crows-an-Wra
to the north, as well as Sparnon and Tregarnoe
further south (see map, right). Since 1990 St Buryan and the surrounding region has been designated a conservation area
by Penwith District Council; recognising the village's status as an area of special architectural and historic interest and preventing development that might alter the village's character.
(also sometimes called Beriana, Buriena, or Beriena). The local legend describes how, whilst ministering to the local inhabitants from the oratory that stood on the site of the current church, Saint Buriana was abducted by the local king, Geraint
(or Gereint) of Dumnonia
. Saint Piran
, patron saint
of Cornwall and also a fellow missionary, negotiated for her release, but the reticent Geraint agreed only on the caveat that the he be awoken by a cuckoo
calling across the snow, something which would be highly unlikely in mid-winter. The legend states that Saint Piran
prayed through the night whilst the snow fell, and in the morning Geraint was awoken by a cuckoo's song. He was so taken aback by the miracle that he honoured his pledge, however, shortly afterwards he changed his mind and tried to recapture Buriana. Buriana is said to have died as Geraint tried to re-imprison her, and was purportedly buried on the site of her chapel.
times, as is evident from the their surviving monuments. A mile (1.5 km) to the north of St Buryan lies Boscawen-Un
, a neolithic stone circle containing 19 stones around a leaning central pillar. The circle is also associated with two nearby standing stones or menhirs. Although somewhat overgrown, the site can be reached by traveling along the A30
west of Drift and is only a few hundred metres south of the road. A more accessible stone circle, The Merry Maidens
, lies 2 miles (3 km) to the south of the village in a field along the B3315 toward Land's End
. This much larger circle comprises nineteen granite megaliths some as much as 1.4 metres (4'7") tall, is approximately 24 metres (79 ft) in diameter and is thought to be complete. Stones are regularly spaced around the circle with a gap or entrance at its eastern edge. The Merry Maidens are also called Dawn's Men, which is likely to be a corruption of the Cornish
Dans Maen, or Stone Dance. The local myth about the creation of the stones suggests that nineteen maidens were turned into stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday. The pipers' two megaliths some distance north-east of the circle are said to be the petrified remains of the musicians who played for the dancers. This legend was likely initiated by the early Christian Church to prevent old pagan
habits continuing at the site.
Like Stonehenge
and other stone monuments built during this period the original purpose of such stone circles is unknown, although there is strong evidence that they may have been ceremonial or religious sites. Many other lone standing stones from the neolithic period can be seen around the parish, at sites including Pridden
, Trelew
, Chyangwens and Trevorgans. In addition to menhirs there are numerous stone crosses within the parish, including two fine examples in St Buryan itself, one in the churchyard, and the other in the centre of the village. These take the form of a standing stone, sometimes carved into a Celtic cross
but more often left roughly circular with a carved figure on the face. It is thought that many of these are pagan in origin, dating from the Neolithic and later periods, but were adapted by the early Christian church to remove evidence of the previous religion. These crosses are often remote and mark/protect ancient crossing points. Other examples in the parish can be found at Crows-an-Wra
, Trevorgans and Vellansaga.
burial chamber, Cruk Tregyffian, that was discovered (and unfortunately damaged) during widening of the adjacent B3315 road. The circular barrow
is composed of stone uprights decorated with cupmarks, dry stone walling and four capstones. Although the original decorated stone has been removed to Truro museum
to protect it against weathering, a replica now sits in its place. Further east along the B3315 road, and only a mile from Lamorna
, lies the Boleigh fogou
, considered to be one of the best remaining monuments of its kind in Cornwall. Built in the Iron age
, the purpose of fogou
s (derived from the Cornish
word for cave) is not known. It has been speculated, however, that they could have been used for food storage or for religious ceremonies. The fogou at Boleigh is extensive and has a large entranceway that leads to a long passage with classic dry stone wall and lintel construction. A low doorway just inside the entrance leads to a much narrower and lower passage that turns ninety degrees left after a few metres. After the turn the passage continues for a metre or two before ending; there is a modern metal support grille set into the roof above this section.
. A revolt against the Anglo-Saxon English
in 931 AD by the Cornish Celts
(supported by the Danes) led to a battle southeast of the village at Boleigh where a farm and hamlet now stands. The Saxon
king Athelstan crushed the resistance, before continuing on to conquer the Isles of Scilly
. A local story tells of ancient armour being ploughed up in the nearby fields at Gul Reeve (a corruption of the Cornish
Gwel Ruth, meaning red field). The establishment of a church and monastery in the village by Athelstan (see Religion) contributed to the rising importance of the parish. This was not without problems, and in 1328 St Buryan was excommunicated from the church over a row about control of the religious matters in the parish. It was not reinstated for another eight years.
After the Norman conquest the area fell under the control of Robert, Count of Mortain
, a half-brother of William the Conqueror, and the parish of St Buryan is mentioned in the Domesday book
with the old Cornish
name of Eglosberrie (and elsewhere Eglosburrie) meaning 'church of St. Buryan':
St Buryan was visited by King John
in the early 13th century who, after landing at Sennen
from Ireland, travelled to the parish to stay the night. The purpose of the visit was an inspection of local mining works in the area and resulted in the import of German engineers to improve their efficiency. By the 14th century St Buryan's importance as a regional centre had grown sufficiently that in 1302 King Edward
granted it a weekly market, to be held on Saturdays, and two yearly fair
s of three days each to be held on the feasts of St Buryan and St Martin.
, an MP
(Grampound 1603–1614, Fowey 1623–1625 and Helston 1627–1631) and member of the court of King Charles I
, who was born and lived on the Pendrea estate within the parish. He was created Attorney-general to the king in October 1631 and specialised in reviving long forgotten taxes to raise money to fund the King's lifestyle during his period of Personal Rule
. His advice controversially led to the imposition of ship money
which is thought by many to have helped trigger the English Civil War
. Noy suffered from stones
, and died in great pain before being buried at the church in New Brentford in 1634.
Smuggling
activity in Britain became more prevalent though the Tudor and Stuart period reaching its peak at the end of the 18th century. High rates of duty were levied on imported wine, spirits, and other luxury goods in order to pay for Britain's expensive wars with France and the United States. Cornwall was a haven for smugglers at this time, with its many secluded coves ideally suited for evasion of the duty, a smuggling provided a highly profitable venture for impoverished fishermen and seafarers. St Buryan was no different in this respect, and also home to smuggling activity. Thomas Johns, a known smuggler and agent of smugglers, was the landlord of the Kings Arms public house, formerly on the site of Belmont House in the village square, who divided his time between St Buryan and his liquor establishments in Roscoff
, Brittany. More famous still was the Lamorna wink public house near Lamorna Cove which was also a base for smugglers. The pub was so named as winking at the barman would reputedly allow you to purchase smuggled spirits.
due to its monastery
and Royal Peculiar
status, the importance of the parish to the district faded with the onset the industrial revolution
. This was in part due to the destruction of the collegiate buildings during The Protectorate
period after the civil war
and also the gradual weakening of the political position of the Church of England
that occurred during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This loss of importance is reflected in the fact that the proportion of the district's population living in the parish fell from four and a half to less than two percent over this period. Unlike other parishes in Penwith
, such as St Just
, St Buryan was not a major focus of tin mining activity during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, having a mainly agrarian economy. After a spike in population in the early 19th century that is mirrored across the district and coincides both with the arrival of the railways and increased tin mining activity in Penwith
, the population of the parish gradually declined over the next two hundred years (see figure right), in part due to the increased mechanisation of farming that the industrial revolution brought, requiring fewer people to work the land. China clay, Cornwall's other great mining export in addition to tin, was mined in the parish for a brief period in the nineteenth century in two pits at Tridinney Common and Bartdinney Downs by the Land's End China Clay Company. Although initially successful, by 1891 they had become economically inviable. Although a newly formed company Zennorin Developments Ltd applied to reopen the pits in 1970, this was rejected on the grounds that it would spoil an area of outstanding natural beauty
In common with other settlements in the district such as Newlyn and Penzance, the post-war period saw the building of a council estate to the west of the village on land formerly part of Parcancady farm. The development was meant to provide affordable housing at a time of short supply in the post-war years. The estate subsequently expanded westward in the nineteen eighties and nineties. In the last census return, St Buryan parish was reported as containing contains 533 dwellings housing 1215 people, 1030 of which were living in the village itself
revival of the 18th century, led by John Wesley
who visited the parish and ministered on several occasions.
A church has stood on the current site since ca. 930 AD, built by King Athelstan in thanks for his successful conquest of Cornwall on the site of the oratory
of Saint Buriana (probably founded in the 5th century). The Charter from Athelstan endowed the building of collegiate buildings and the establishment of one of the earliest monasteries in Cornwall, and was subsequently enlarged and rededicated to the saint in 1238 by Bishop William Briwere
. The collegiate establishment consisted of a dean and three prebendaries. Owing to the nature of the original Charter from King Athelstan, the parish of St Buryan was long regarded as a Royal Peculiar
thus falling directly under the jurisdiction of the British monarch as a separate diocese
, rather than the Church. This led to several hundred years of arguments between The Crown
and the Bishop of Exeter
over control of the parish, which came to a head in 1327 when blood was shed in the churchyard, and in 1328 St Buryan was excommunicated by the Bishop
. St Buryan was not reinstated until 1336. 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 church was subsequently rebuilt and enlarged, the tower was added in 1501 and further expansion took place in the late 15th and 16th centuries when the bulk of the present church building were added. Further restoration of the interior took place in 1814, and the present Lady Chapel was erected in 1956. The church is currently classified as a Grade I listed building. The Deanery was annexed in 1663 to the Bishopric of Exeter
after the English Civil War
, however, it was again severed during the episcopacy of Bishop Harris , who thus became the first truly independent dean. The current diocese holds jurisdiction over the parishes of St Buryan, St Levan
, and Sennen
. St Buryan church is famous for having the heaviest peal of six bells in the world, and a recent campaign to restore the church's bells, which had fallen into disuse, has enabled all six to be rung properly for the first time in decades. The church has four 15th century misericord
s, two either side of the chancel, each of which shows a plain shield.
, visited the parish on several occasions, but was not well received at first. He first visited St Buryan in 1747 where he preached at Tredinney, and later attended services at the church in St Buryan during which the local reverend is reputed to have made several caustic remarks about him. A second visit in 1766, during which he preached from outside the church, led to him being threatened with a whip by the local squire, however this only strengthened his resolve to return. The first Methodist chapel was built in 1783 on a site opposite the current day chapel, on land purchased the previous year and inspected by Wesley himself during his last visit to the parish. In 1833, as Methodism became more popular in Cornwall, a second larger chapel was built on the site of the current one. This was subsequently rebuilt in 1981 after suffering storm damage to the old structure. Further chapels were built in the parish, at Crows-an-Wra in 1831 with seating for 220 as a replacement for an earlier chapel at nearby Treve
and at Borah in 1817 with seating for 100, which was rebuilt in 1878. Both of these closed in 1981 to coincide with the enlargement of the St Buryan Chapel. A Bible Christian group was also founded inb the village in about 1815. With growing support a proper chapel was built in 1860 on the site of the current Hosken's Meadow. This was closed in 1932 but left derelict for another 65 years before being demolished.
beside the church buildings in the main village. This was administered through the poorhouse, whose trustees were also the trustees of the school. A new school was built in 1830 which now forms the village hall. The school was subscription based and pupils paid a penny a day toward their education. When compulsory education was introduced in 1875 these buildings were extended to deal with the influx of pupils. The school moved again to its present site, a new purpose built building along Rectory Road, in 1910. Today St. Buryan primary school teaches pupils between the ages of four and eleven and is a feeder school
for nearby Cape Cornwall Comprehensive School. There was until recently an attached nursery for taking care of children of pre-school age, but this has subsequently moved to new premises in the village. For many years the school taught in its original three classrooms, however under the headship of Paul Gazzard the site has been expanded to include a fourth classroom, a hall and gymnasium, a library and a new reception area. This expansion was made financially possible in part due to a spell as a grant maintained school during the previous Tory
administration
in which the school had direct control over its own budget. Under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998
the school became a foundation school
.
The school currently teaches 87 pupils from the villages and the surrounding parish. There has been a steady rise in pupil numbers in recent years made possible by the improved facilities and mirroring the population rise in the parish as a whole. All pupils come from a white British background and use English as their first language. Nearly six percent of pupils have Statement of Special Educational Need, which is above the national average. In the recent Ofsted
inspection pupils’ standards of achievement were classed as good overall with above average results in science and English and very high attainment in mathematics.
Like much of the rest of Cornwall, St Buryan has many strong cultural traditions. The first Cornish Gorsedd
(Gorseth Kernow
) in over one thousand years was held in the parish in the stone circle at Boscawen-Un
on 21 September 1928. The procession, guided by the bard
s of the Welsh
Gorsedd and spoken mostly in Cornish
was aimed at promoting Cornish culture and literature. The modern Gorsedd has subsequently been performed nine times in the parish including the fiftieth anniversary, both at Boscawen-Un and the stone circle at The Merry Maidens
. There is also a regular Eisteddfod held in the village. St Buryan is also the home of a wisewoman. and was surveyed for the Survey of English Dialects
. The feast of St Buriana is celebrated on the Sunday nearest to May 13 (although the St Buriana's official day is 1 May) consisting of fancy dress and competitions for the children of the village and usually other entertainments later in the evening. In the summer there are also several other festivals, including the agricultural preservation rally in which vintage tractor, farm equipment, rare breed animals and threshing
demonstrations are shown as well as some vintage cars and traction engine
s. This is currently being hosted at Trevorgans farm and is traditionally held on the last Saturday of July. St Buryan is also twinned with Calan
in Morbihan
, Brittany
.
Espionage novelist David John Moore Cornwell, better known as John le Carré
, whose books include The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
has lived in St Buryan for more than forty years. Many of his novels have been adapted for film, the most recent being the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award
-winning The Constant Gardener
in 2005. Author Derek Tangye
, who died in 1996, also lived and wrote in the parish for many years, writing over twenty books, the Minack Chronicles, about life in rural Cornwall (Minack deriving from Dorminack Farm). Sam Peckinpah
's 1971 film Straw Dogs, starring Dustin Hoffman
, was filmed in St Buryan.
Brenda Wootton
, the well-known Cornish bard and folk singer, ran her celebrated 'Pipers Folk Club' in St Buryan Village Hall for a time in the late 1960s (later in Botallack
). Continuing the musical tradition, the village is also home to St Buryan Male Voice Choir who fulfil many engagements every year and adopt a variety of musical styles. The choir, founded over sixty years ago by Hugh Rowe whose son, Geoffrey Rowe, was born in the village, and has made his name as a singer and comedian performing as Jethro
. A female voice choir, the Buriana Singers also exists.
, particularly at Lamorna where a small colony led by Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch
was established and included painters such as Alfred Munnings
, Laura Knight
and Harold Knight who lived and painted there. These artists were attracted by cheap living, the changeable quality of the light and a desire to paint En plein air
. This style of painting had become increasingly popular after the introduction of paints in tubes in the 1870s, an innovation which meant that painters no longer had to make their own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil.
, with arable crops such as potato and cauliflower being farmed as well as some raising of pigs and sheep. As with much of Cornwall, fishing is an important source of income and employment. Many smaller crabbers and landline fishermen operate from the various coves and harbours on the rocky shore. Before its closure at the turn of the millennium the transatlantic telephone cable station, and telecommunications educational facility, run by Cable and Wireless at Porthcurno
provided further employment opportunities in the neighbouring parish of St Levan. Its central location in west Penwith
and proximity to popular tourist attractions such as the Minack Theatre
, Land's End
and the Blue Flag beach
at Sennen
Cove, mean that St Buryan enjoys a healthy income from visitors, both day trippers and those renting accommodation, during the summer months.
along the B3283
which forks about five miles (8 km) from the end of the A30
, the major trunk road that runs the length of Cornwall. Three further minor roads also meet at St Buryan, two link the village with the B3315
towards Lamorna
, and the third rejoins the A30 at Crows-an-Wra
. St. Buryan is served by four bus routes. Services 1 and 1A run between Penzance
and Land's End
via Gwavas
, Sheffield
, St Buryan and Sennen
. The 300 service runs a circular route via St Ives
, St Just
, Sennen
, St Buryan and Newlyn
. These routes are run by First Devon & Cornwall, part of First Group. Western Greyhound
service 501 runs on the same route as the 1/1A. Services run frequently from Penzance to the village until around 10 pm during the summer months, but markedly less often in the winter. Travel by rail is via the Great Western Main Line
whose westernmost terminus is located at nearby Penzance
. First Great Western
provides local services to nearby St Ives
via the St Ives Bay Line
as well as direct connections linking Penzance with Plymouth
, Bath, Bristol
, Newport
and Cardiff
. Intercity services are provided both by First Great Western
, connecting Penzance with London Paddington, and CrossCountry
who run services to Manchester
via the West Coast Main Line
and also direct services to Edinburgh Waverley
and Glasgow Central via Birmingham
, Sheffield
, York
, Leeds
and Newcastle upon Tyne
. St Buryan's closest airports are Land's End Aerodrome, with flights to the Isles of Scilly
, Newquay which carries flights to Gatwick and Stansted
, and Plymouth, which connects with Gatwick, Bristol
, Dublin and Manchester
.
franchise
and housing an ATM
cashpoint, plus a post office, an antiques shop and the St Buryan Inn are located. There is also a garage at the eastern end of the village that runs a limited coach service. The village was also previously served by its own butchers shop, this was closed in 1990 due to combination of the economic recession and pressure from the recently opened Safeway
(now Morrisons) supermarket in nearby Penzance
. A doctor's branch surgery is currently held in the village cricket pavilion every Thursday between twelve and one pm. At other times patients must travel to the surgery in nearby St Just
, the West Cornwall hospital in Penzance or the Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske)
, Truro.
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
The village of St Buryan is situated approximately five miles (8 km) west of Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
along the B3283
Great Britain road numbering scheme
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter, which represents the road's category, and a subsequent number, with a length of between 1 and 4 digits. Originally introduced to arrange...
towards Land's End
Land's End
Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
. Three further minor roads also meet at St Buryan, two link the village with the B3315
Great Britain road numbering scheme
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter, which represents the road's category, and a subsequent number, with a length of between 1 and 4 digits. Originally introduced to arrange...
towards Lamorna
Lamorna
Lamorna is a fishing village and cove in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Penwith peninsula approximately four miles south of Penzance.-Newlyn School of Art and the Lamorna Colony:...
, and the third rejoins the A30
Great Britain road numbering scheme
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter, which represents the road's category, and a subsequent number, with a length of between 1 and 4 digits. Originally introduced to arrange...
at Crows-an-Wra
Crows-an-Wra
Crows-an-Wra is a hamlet in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated in the civil parish of St Buryan approximately four miles northeast of Land's End....
.
St Buryan parish encompasses the villages of St. Buryan, Lamorna
Lamorna
Lamorna is a fishing village and cove in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Penwith peninsula approximately four miles south of Penzance.-Newlyn School of Art and the Lamorna Colony:...
, and Crows-an-wra
Crows-an-Wra
Crows-an-Wra is a hamlet in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated in the civil parish of St Buryan approximately four miles northeast of Land's End....
and shares boundaries with the parishes of Sancreed
Sancreed
Sancreed is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately three miles from Penzance....
and St Just
St Just in Penwith
St Just is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish encompasses the town of St Just and the nearby settlements of Trewellard, Pendeen and Kelynack: it is bounded by the parishes of Morvah to the north-east, Sancreed and Madron to the east, St Buryan and Sennen to...
to the north, Sennen
Sennen
Sennen is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
and St Levan
St Levan
St Levan is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately eight miles south west of Penzance....
(with which it has close ties) to the west, with Paul
Paul, Cornwall
Paul is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated two miles south of Penzance and one mile south of Newlyn.The village of Paul is represented on Penzance Town Council...
to the east and by the sea in the south.
Named after the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
Saint Buriana
Saint Buriana
Saint Buriana was a 6th century Irish saint who was a hermit in St Buryan, near Penzance, in the kingdom of Dumnonia.Buriana ministered from a chapel on the site of the parish church at St Buryan. She is said to have been the daughter of an Irish king and travelled to Dumnonia from Ireland as a...
, the parish is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is a popular tourist destination. It has been a designated conservation area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
since 1990 and is near many sites of special scientific interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
in the surrounding area.
The parish is dotted with evidence of Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
activity, from stone circles and Celtic cross
Celtic cross
A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated...
es to burial chambers and ancient holy wells. The village of St Buryan itself is also a site of special historic interest, and contains many listed buildings including the famous grade I listed Church. The bells of St Buryan Church
The church of St Buryan
The Church of St Buryan is a late 15th century Church of England parish church in St Buryan in Cornwall.-Architectural history:A church has stood on the current site since c. 930. King Athelstan stopped to pray at Saint Buriana's chapel, of which little now remains, during his conquest of Cornwall...
, which have recently undergone extensive renovation, are the heaviest full circle peal of six anywhere in the world. The parish also has a strong cultural heritage.
Many painters of the Newlyn School
Newlyn School
The Newlyn School is a term used to describe an art colony of artists based in or near to Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early 20th century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was reminiscent of the Barbizon School in France, where artists...
including Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch
Lamorna Birch
Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch, RA, RWS was an artist in oils and watercolours. At the suggestion of fellow artist Stanhope Forbes, Birch adopted the soubriquet "Lamorna" to distinguish himself from Lionel Birch, an artist who was also working in the area at that time.-Biography:Lamorna Birch was...
were based at Lamorna in the south of the parish. St Buryan Village Hall was also the former location of Pipers Folk Club, created in the late 1960s by celebrated Cornish singer Brenda Wootton
Brenda Wootton
Brenda Wootton was a Cornish poetess and folk singer and was seen as an ambassador for Cornish tradition and culture in all the Celtic nations and as far away as Australia and Canada....
.Today St Buryan is a prominent local centre housing many important amenities.
Geography
The parish, which is generally fertile and well cultivated, comprises 6972 acres (2,821.5 ha) of land, 3 acres (1.2 ha) of water and 18 acres (7.3 ha) of foreshore and lies predominantly on graniteGranite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
. It is more elevated at its northern part and slopes gently north to south-east towards the sea. Chapel Carn Brea
Chapel Carn Brea
Chapel Carn Brea is an elevated granite outcrop at the northern edge of the civil parish of St Buryan, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is three miles south of St Just and two miles east of Sennen Cove...
, (50°09'N, 5°65W), often described as the first hill in Cornwall (from a westerly perspective), sits at its northernmost edge and rises 657 feet (200 m) above sea level The hill is also an important historical site showing evidence of neolithic activity, as well as the remains of the chapel from which it is named. Toward the south is the village of St Buryan, which sits on a plateau and is centrally sited within the parish. Further to the south the terrain slopes down toward the sea, ending in several deep cut river valleys at Lamorna
Lamorna
Lamorna is a fishing village and cove in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Penwith peninsula approximately four miles south of Penzance.-Newlyn School of Art and the Lamorna Colony:...
, Penberth
Penberth
Penberth is a coastal village and cove on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately seven miles southwest of Penzance.Penberth Cove is one of the last remaining traditional fishing coves in Cornwall...
and St Loy
St Loy's Cove
St Loy's Cove is a small wooded valley and beach in the civil parish of St Buryan in Cornwall, UK. It's located two miles to the south of St Buryan churchtown, and between Penberth and Lamorna. There are just a few buildings in the cove, one of which, Cove Cottage, provides bed and breakfast and a...
that are both sheltered and heavily forested. West of St Buryan, toward St Levan, the terrain again gently descends, causing the ground to become more marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
y and waterlogged and less suitable for growing arable crops. East of the village the land also slopes away toward Drift
Drift, Cornwall
Drift is a village in west Cornwall, United Kingdom.The village is in the civil parish of Sancreed approximately two miles west of Penzance and six miles from Land's End at...
, and its reservoir
Drift Reservoir
Drift Reservoir is a reservoir in Cornwall, UK, just north of Drift village, southwest of Penzance. The reservoir is approximately a mile long. It has a large dam at its southern end, and at the northern end, splits into a northwestern and a northeastern arm...
, past the wooded area at Pridden
Pridden
Pridden is a hamlet in Cornwall, United Kingdom.It is located approximately one mile east of St Buryan village on the B3283 road. There is an area of woodland and a farm of the same name....
and the deep cut valley at Trelew
Trelew, Cornwall
Trelew is a hamlet in south-west Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is in the civil parish of Mylor. The settlement is between the villages of Mylor Bridge and Mylor Churchtown two miles north of Falmouth and two miles east of Penryn at . The settlement is situated on the south shore of...
(in which a steep embankment has been built to carry the B3283 road). Other settlements of note in the parish include Crows-an-Wra
Crows-an-Wra
Crows-an-Wra is a hamlet in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated in the civil parish of St Buryan approximately four miles northeast of Land's End....
to the north, as well as Sparnon and Tregarnoe
Tregarnoe
Tregurnow is a settlement in St Buryan civil parish on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, United Kingdom.At Tregurnow farm is an interesting celtic cross from the medieval period similar to ones found on the Isle of man....
further south (see map, right). Since 1990 St Buryan and the surrounding region has been designated a conservation area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
by Penwith District Council; recognising the village's status as an area of special architectural and historic interest and preventing development that might alter the village's character.
Etymology
The village is named after the 6th century Irish Christian missionary Saint BurianaSaint Buriana
Saint Buriana was a 6th century Irish saint who was a hermit in St Buryan, near Penzance, in the kingdom of Dumnonia.Buriana ministered from a chapel on the site of the parish church at St Buryan. She is said to have been the daughter of an Irish king and travelled to Dumnonia from Ireland as a...
(also sometimes called Beriana, Buriena, or Beriena). The local legend describes how, whilst ministering to the local inhabitants from the oratory that stood on the site of the current church, Saint Buriana was abducted by the local king, Geraint
Geraint
Geraint is a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend, a king of Dumnonia and a valiant warrior. He may have lived during or shortly prior to the reign of the historical Arthur, but some scholars doubt he ever existed...
(or Gereint) of Dumnonia
Dumnonia
Dumnonia is the Latinised name for the Brythonic kingdom in sub-Roman Britain between the late 4th and late 8th centuries, located in the farther parts of the south-west peninsula of Great Britain...
. Saint Piran
Saint Piran
Saint Piran or Perran is an early 6th century Cornish abbot and saint, supposedly of Irish origin....
, patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of Cornwall and also a fellow missionary, negotiated for her release, but the reticent Geraint agreed only on the caveat that the he be awoken by a cuckoo
Cuckoo
The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos . Some zoologists and taxonomists have also included the unique Hoatzin in the Cuculiformes, but its taxonomy remains in dispute...
calling across the snow, something which would be highly unlikely in mid-winter. The legend states that Saint Piran
Saint Piran
Saint Piran or Perran is an early 6th century Cornish abbot and saint, supposedly of Irish origin....
prayed through the night whilst the snow fell, and in the morning Geraint was awoken by a cuckoo's song. He was so taken aback by the miracle that he honoured his pledge, however, shortly afterwards he changed his mind and tried to recapture Buriana. Buriana is said to have died as Geraint tried to re-imprison her, and was purportedly buried on the site of her chapel.
History
St Buryan and the surrounding area is rich in history and has been a centre of human activity for several thousand years.Early Neolithic Period
The area surrounding St Buryan was in use by humans in NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
times, as is evident from the their surviving monuments. A mile (1.5 km) to the north of St Buryan lies Boscawen-Un
Boscawen-Un
Boscawen-Un is a Bronze age stone circle close to St Buryan in Cornwall, UK. It consists of 19 upright stones in an ellipse with diameters 24.9m and 21.9m, with another, leaning, stone just south of the centre. There is a west-facing gap in the circle, which may have formed an entrance. It is...
, a neolithic stone circle containing 19 stones around a leaning central pillar. The circle is also associated with two nearby standing stones or menhirs. Although somewhat overgrown, the site can be reached by traveling along the A30
A30 road
The 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...
west of Drift and is only a few hundred metres south of the road. A more accessible stone circle, The Merry Maidens
The Merry Maidens
The Merry Maidens , also known as Dawn's Men is a late neolithic stone circle located 2 miles to the south of the village of St Buryan, in Cornwall, United Kingdom....
, lies 2 miles (3 km) to the south of the village in a field along the B3315 toward Land's End
Land's End
Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
. This much larger circle comprises nineteen granite megaliths some as much as 1.4 metres (4'7") tall, is approximately 24 metres (79 ft) in diameter and is thought to be complete. Stones are regularly spaced around the circle with a gap or entrance at its eastern edge. The Merry Maidens are also called Dawn's Men, which is likely to be a corruption of the Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
Dans Maen, or Stone Dance. The local myth about the creation of the stones suggests that nineteen maidens were turned into stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday. The pipers' two megaliths some distance north-east of the circle are said to be the petrified remains of the musicians who played for the dancers. This legend was likely initiated by the early Christian Church to prevent old pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
habits continuing at the site.
Like Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
and other stone monuments built during this period the original purpose of such stone circles is unknown, although there is strong evidence that they may have been ceremonial or religious sites. Many other lone standing stones from the neolithic period can be seen around the parish, at sites including Pridden
Pridden
Pridden is a hamlet in Cornwall, United Kingdom.It is located approximately one mile east of St Buryan village on the B3283 road. There is an area of woodland and a farm of the same name....
, Trelew
Trelew, Cornwall
Trelew is a hamlet in south-west Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is in the civil parish of Mylor. The settlement is between the villages of Mylor Bridge and Mylor Churchtown two miles north of Falmouth and two miles east of Penryn at . The settlement is situated on the south shore of...
, Chyangwens and Trevorgans. In addition to menhirs there are numerous stone crosses within the parish, including two fine examples in St Buryan itself, one in the churchyard, and the other in the centre of the village. These take the form of a standing stone, sometimes carved into a Celtic cross
Celtic cross
A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated...
but more often left roughly circular with a carved figure on the face. It is thought that many of these are pagan in origin, dating from the Neolithic and later periods, but were adapted by the early Christian church to remove evidence of the previous religion. These crosses are often remote and mark/protect ancient crossing points. Other examples in the parish can be found at Crows-an-Wra
Crows-an-Wra
Crows-an-Wra is a hamlet in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated in the civil parish of St Buryan approximately four miles northeast of Land's End....
, Trevorgans and Vellansaga.
Bronze and Iron Ages
Only several hundred yards from the site of the Merry Maidens lies a Bronze ageBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
burial chamber, Cruk Tregyffian, that was discovered (and unfortunately damaged) during widening of the adjacent B3315 road. The circular barrow
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
is composed of stone uprights decorated with cupmarks, dry stone walling and four capstones. Although the original decorated stone has been removed to Truro museum
Royal Cornwall Museum
The Royal Cornwall Museum is a museum in the city of Truro, Cornwall, England. It is the oldest museum in Cornwall and the leading museum of Cornish culture. Its exhibits include minerals, an unwrapped mummy and objects relating to Cornwall’s unique culture...
to protect it against weathering, a replica now sits in its place. Further east along the B3315 road, and only a mile from Lamorna
Lamorna
Lamorna is a fishing village and cove in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Penwith peninsula approximately four miles south of Penzance.-Newlyn School of Art and the Lamorna Colony:...
, lies the Boleigh fogou
Fogou
A fogou or fougou is an underground, dry-stone structure found on Iron Age or Romano-British defended settlement sites in Cornwall. Fogous have similarities with souterrains or earth-houses of northern Europe and particularly Scotland including the Orkney Islands...
, considered to be one of the best remaining monuments of its kind in Cornwall. Built in the Iron age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
, the purpose of fogou
Fogou
A fogou or fougou is an underground, dry-stone structure found on Iron Age or Romano-British defended settlement sites in Cornwall. Fogous have similarities with souterrains or earth-houses of northern Europe and particularly Scotland including the Orkney Islands...
s (derived from the Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
word for cave) is not known. It has been speculated, however, that they could have been used for food storage or for religious ceremonies. The fogou at Boleigh is extensive and has a large entranceway that leads to a long passage with classic dry stone wall and lintel construction. A low doorway just inside the entrance leads to a much narrower and lower passage that turns ninety degrees left after a few metres. After the turn the passage continues for a metre or two before ending; there is a modern metal support grille set into the roof above this section.
Middle Ages
Human activity in the parish continued and intensified in the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. A revolt against the Anglo-Saxon English
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
in 931 AD by the Cornish Celts
Cornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
(supported by the Danes) led to a battle southeast of the village at Boleigh where a farm and hamlet now stands. The Saxon
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
king Athelstan crushed the resistance, before continuing on to conquer the Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...
. A local story tells of ancient armour being ploughed up in the nearby fields at Gul Reeve (a corruption of the Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
Gwel Ruth, meaning red field). The establishment of a church and monastery in the village by Athelstan (see Religion) contributed to the rising importance of the parish. This was not without problems, and in 1328 St Buryan was excommunicated from the church over a row about control of the religious matters in the parish. It was not reinstated for another eight years.
After the Norman conquest the area fell under the control of Robert, Count of Mortain
Robert, Count of Mortain
Robert, Count of Mortain, 1st Earl of Cornwall was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother of William I of England. Robert was the son of Herluin de Conteville and Herleva of Falaise and was full brother to Odo of Bayeux. The exact year of Robert's birth is unknown Robert, Count of Mortain, 1st...
, a half-brother of William the Conqueror, and the parish of St Buryan is mentioned in the Domesday book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
with the old Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
name of Eglosberrie (and elsewhere Eglosburrie) meaning 'church of St. Buryan':
St Buryan was visited by King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
in the early 13th century who, after landing at Sennen
Sennen
Sennen is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
from Ireland, travelled to the parish to stay the night. The purpose of the visit was an inspection of local mining works in the area and resulted in the import of German engineers to improve their efficiency. By the 14th century St Buryan's importance as a regional centre had grown sufficiently that in 1302 King Edward
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
granted it a weekly market, to be held on Saturdays, and two yearly fair
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
s of three days each to be held on the feasts of St Buryan and St Martin.
Tudor and Stuart period
Perhaps one of the most notable residents of St Buryan during the seventeenth century was one William NoyWilliam Noy
William Noy was a noted British jurist.He was born on the family estate of Pendrea in St Buryan, Cornwall. He left Exeter College, Oxford without taking a degree, and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1594. From 1603 until his death he was elected, with one exception, to each parliament, sitting...
, an MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(Grampound 1603–1614, Fowey 1623–1625 and Helston 1627–1631) and member of the court of King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, who was born and lived on the Pendrea estate within the parish. He was created Attorney-general to the king in October 1631 and specialised in reviving long forgotten taxes to raise money to fund the King's lifestyle during his period of Personal Rule
Personal Rule
The Personal Rule was the period from 1629 to 1640, when King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland ruled without recourse to Parliament...
. His advice controversially led to the imposition of ship money
Ship money
Ship money refers to a tax that Charles I of England tried to levy without the consent of Parliament. This tax, which was only applied to coastal towns during a time of war, was intended to offset the cost of defending that part of the coast, and could be paid in actual ships or the equivalent value...
which is thought by many to have helped trigger the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. Noy suffered from stones
Kidney stone
A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...
, and died in great pain before being buried at the church in New Brentford in 1634.
Smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
activity in Britain became more prevalent though the Tudor and Stuart period reaching its peak at the end of the 18th century. High rates of duty were levied on imported wine, spirits, and other luxury goods in order to pay for Britain's expensive wars with France and the United States. Cornwall was a haven for smugglers at this time, with its many secluded coves ideally suited for evasion of the duty, a smuggling provided a highly profitable venture for impoverished fishermen and seafarers. St Buryan was no different in this respect, and also home to smuggling activity. Thomas Johns, a known smuggler and agent of smugglers, was the landlord of the Kings Arms public house, formerly on the site of Belmont House in the village square, who divided his time between St Buryan and his liquor establishments in Roscoff
Roscoff
Roscoff is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.The nearby Île de Batz, called Enez Vaz in Breton, is a small island that can be reached by launch from the harbour....
, Brittany. More famous still was the Lamorna wink public house near Lamorna Cove which was also a base for smugglers. The pub was so named as winking at the barman would reputedly allow you to purchase smuggled spirits.
Industrial revolution
Whereas St Buryan was an important regional religious centre during the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
due to its monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
and Royal Peculiar
Royal Peculiar
A Royal Peculiar is a place of worship that falls directly under the jurisdiction of the British monarch, rather than under a bishop. The concept dates from Anglo-Saxon times, when a church could ally itself with the monarch and therefore not be subject to the bishop of the area...
status, the importance of the parish to the district faded with the onset the industrial revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. This was in part due to the destruction of the collegiate buildings during The Protectorate
The Protectorate
In British history, the Protectorate was the period 1653–1659 during which the Commonwealth of England was governed by a Lord Protector.-Background:...
period after the civil war
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
and also the gradual weakening of the political position of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
that occurred during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This loss of importance is reflected in the fact that the proportion of the district's population living in the parish fell from four and a half to less than two percent over this period. Unlike other parishes in Penwith
Penwith
Penwith was a local government district in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, whose council was based in Penzance. The district covered all of the Penwith peninsula, the toe-like promontory of land at the western end of Cornwall and which included an area of land to the east that fell outside the...
, such as St Just
St Just in Penwith
St Just is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish encompasses the town of St Just and the nearby settlements of Trewellard, Pendeen and Kelynack: it is bounded by the parishes of Morvah to the north-east, Sancreed and Madron to the east, St Buryan and Sennen to...
, St Buryan was not a major focus of tin mining activity during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, having a mainly agrarian economy. After a spike in population in the early 19th century that is mirrored across the district and coincides both with the arrival of the railways and increased tin mining activity in Penwith
Penwith
Penwith was a local government district in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, whose council was based in Penzance. The district covered all of the Penwith peninsula, the toe-like promontory of land at the western end of Cornwall and which included an area of land to the east that fell outside the...
, the population of the parish gradually declined over the next two hundred years (see figure right), in part due to the increased mechanisation of farming that the industrial revolution brought, requiring fewer people to work the land. China clay, Cornwall's other great mining export in addition to tin, was mined in the parish for a brief period in the nineteenth century in two pits at Tridinney Common and Bartdinney Downs by the Land's End China Clay Company. Although initially successful, by 1891 they had become economically inviable. Although a newly formed company Zennorin Developments Ltd applied to reopen the pits in 1970, this was rejected on the grounds that it would spoil an area of outstanding natural beauty
Twentieth century
After a period of decline during the twentieth century, which saw a reduction in the village's population (see figure), culminating in the loss of a blacksmiths, the local dairy, the village butchers and a cafe in the early nineties, St Buryan has been enjoying a renaissance, fueled in part by an influx of new families. The local school has been expanded to include a hall and a fourth classroom and a new community centre has recently been built nearby.In common with other settlements in the district such as Newlyn and Penzance, the post-war period saw the building of a council estate to the west of the village on land formerly part of Parcancady farm. The development was meant to provide affordable housing at a time of short supply in the post-war years. The estate subsequently expanded westward in the nineteen eighties and nineties. In the last census return, St Buryan parish was reported as containing contains 533 dwellings housing 1215 people, 1030 of which were living in the village itself
Religion
St Buryan has a long history of religious activity both through its historical connection with the church of the state, and later playing an important part in the MethodistMethodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
revival of the 18th century, led by John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
who visited the parish and ministered on several occasions.
The Church of St Buryan
Oratory (worship)
An oratory is a Christian room for prayer, from the Latin orare, to pray.-Catholic church:In the Roman Catholic Church, an oratory is a structure other than a parish church, set aside by ecclesiastical authority for prayer and the celebration of Mass...
of Saint Buriana (probably founded in the 5th century). The Charter from Athelstan endowed the building of collegiate buildings and the establishment of one of the earliest monasteries in Cornwall, and was subsequently enlarged and rededicated to the saint in 1238 by Bishop William Briwere
William Briwere
William Briwere was a medieval Bishop of Exeter.- Early life :Briwere was the nephew of William Brewer, a baron and political leader during King Henry III of England's minority. Nothing else is known of the younger Briwere's family or where he was educated...
. The collegiate establishment consisted of a dean and three prebendaries. Owing to the nature of the original Charter from King Athelstan, the parish of St Buryan was long regarded as a Royal Peculiar
Royal Peculiar
A Royal Peculiar is a place of worship that falls directly under the jurisdiction of the British monarch, rather than under a bishop. The concept dates from Anglo-Saxon times, when a church could ally itself with the monarch and therefore not be subject to the bishop of the area...
thus falling directly under the jurisdiction of the British monarch as a separate diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
, rather than the Church. This led to several hundred years of arguments between The Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
and the Bishop of Exeter
Bishop of Exeter
The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The incumbent usually signs his name as Exon or incorporates this in his signature....
over control of the parish, which came to a head in 1327 when blood was shed in the churchyard, and in 1328 St Buryan was excommunicated by the Bishop
John Grandisson
John Grandisson was a medieval Bishop of Exeter.Grandisson was born at Ashperton near Hereford in 1292. His father William, Lord de Grandisson, was a Burgundian in the household of Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, brother of King Edward I of England. He studied theology at the University of Paris, and...
. St Buryan was not reinstated until 1336. 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 church was subsequently rebuilt and enlarged, the tower was added in 1501 and further expansion took place in the late 15th and 16th centuries when the bulk of the present church building were added. Further restoration of the interior took place in 1814, and the present Lady Chapel was erected in 1956. The church is currently classified as a Grade I listed building. The Deanery was annexed in 1663 to the Bishopric of Exeter
Diocese of Exeter
The Diocese of Exeter is a Church of England diocese covering the county of Devon. It is one of the largest dioceses in England. The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter is the seat of the diocesan bishop, the Right Reverend Michael Langrish, Bishop of Exeter. It is part of the Province of...
after the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, however, it was again severed during the episcopacy of Bishop Harris , who thus became the first truly independent dean. The current diocese holds jurisdiction over the parishes of St Buryan, St Levan
St Levan
St Levan is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately eight miles south west of Penzance....
, and Sennen
Sennen
Sennen is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
. St Buryan church is famous for having the heaviest peal of six bells in the world, and a recent campaign to restore the church's bells, which had fallen into disuse, has enabled all six to be rung properly for the first time in decades. The church has four 15th century misericord
Misericord
A misericord is a small wooden shelf on the underside of a folding seat in a church, installed to provide a degree of comfort for a person who has to stand during long periods of prayer.-Origins:...
s, two either side of the chancel, each of which shows a plain shield.
Methodism
John Wesley, the founding father of MethodismMethodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
, visited the parish on several occasions, but was not well received at first. He first visited St Buryan in 1747 where he preached at Tredinney, and later attended services at the church in St Buryan during which the local reverend is reputed to have made several caustic remarks about him. A second visit in 1766, during which he preached from outside the church, led to him being threatened with a whip by the local squire, however this only strengthened his resolve to return. The first Methodist chapel was built in 1783 on a site opposite the current day chapel, on land purchased the previous year and inspected by Wesley himself during his last visit to the parish. In 1833, as Methodism became more popular in Cornwall, a second larger chapel was built on the site of the current one. This was subsequently rebuilt in 1981 after suffering storm damage to the old structure. Further chapels were built in the parish, at Crows-an-Wra in 1831 with seating for 220 as a replacement for an earlier chapel at nearby Treve
Trévé
Trévé is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Bretagne in northwestern France.-Population:Inhabitants of Trévé are called trévéens.-External links:*...
and at Borah in 1817 with seating for 100, which was rebuilt in 1878. Both of these closed in 1981 to coincide with the enlargement of the St Buryan Chapel. A Bible Christian group was also founded inb the village in about 1815. With growing support a proper chapel was built in 1860 on the site of the current Hosken's Meadow. This was closed in 1932 but left derelict for another 65 years before being demolished.
Education
The first record of a school in the parish was in 1801, on a site adjacent to the old poorhousePoorhouse
A poorhouse or workhouse was a government-run facility in the past for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality....
beside the church buildings in the main village. This was administered through the poorhouse, whose trustees were also the trustees of the school. A new school was built in 1830 which now forms the village hall. The school was subscription based and pupils paid a penny a day toward their education. When compulsory education was introduced in 1875 these buildings were extended to deal with the influx of pupils. The school moved again to its present site, a new purpose built building along Rectory Road, in 1910. Today St. Buryan primary school teaches pupils between the ages of four and eleven and is a feeder school
Feeder school
Feeder school is a name applied to schools, colleges, universities, or other educational institutions that provide a significant number of graduates who intend to continue their studies at specific schools, or even in specific fields....
for nearby Cape Cornwall Comprehensive School. There was until recently an attached nursery for taking care of children of pre-school age, but this has subsequently moved to new premises in the village. For many years the school taught in its original three classrooms, however under the headship of Paul Gazzard the site has been expanded to include a fourth classroom, a hall and gymnasium, a library and a new reception area. This expansion was made financially possible in part due to a spell as a grant maintained school during the previous Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
administration
Administration (government)
The term administration, as used in the context of government, differs according to jurisdiction.-United States:In United States usage, the term refers to the executive branch under a specific president , for example: the "Barack Obama administration." It can also mean an executive branch agency...
in which the school had direct control over its own budget. Under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998
School Standards and Framework Act 1998
The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 was the major education legislation passed by the incoming Labour government of Tony Blair.This Act:* imposed a limit of 30 on infant class sizes....
the school became a foundation school
Foundation school
In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools....
.
The school currently teaches 87 pupils from the villages and the surrounding parish. There has been a steady rise in pupil numbers in recent years made possible by the improved facilities and mirroring the population rise in the parish as a whole. All pupils come from a white British background and use English as their first language. Nearly six percent of pupils have Statement of Special Educational Need, which is above the national average. In the recent Ofsted
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....
inspection pupils’ standards of achievement were classed as good overall with above average results in science and English and very high attainment in mathematics.
Culture
Gorsedd
A gorsedd plural gorseddau, is a community or coming together of modern-day bards. The word is of Welsh origin, meaning "throne". It is occasionally spelled gorsedh , or goursez in Brittany....
(Gorseth Kernow
Gorseth Kernow
Gorseth Kernow is a non-political Cornish organisation, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall in the United Kingdom.-History:...
) in over one thousand years was held in the parish in the stone circle at Boscawen-Un
Boscawen-Un
Boscawen-Un is a Bronze age stone circle close to St Buryan in Cornwall, UK. It consists of 19 upright stones in an ellipse with diameters 24.9m and 21.9m, with another, leaning, stone just south of the centre. There is a west-facing gap in the circle, which may have formed an entrance. It is...
on 21 September 1928. The procession, guided by the bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
s of the Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
Gorsedd and spoken mostly in Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
was aimed at promoting Cornish culture and literature. The modern Gorsedd has subsequently been performed nine times in the parish including the fiftieth anniversary, both at Boscawen-Un and the stone circle at The Merry Maidens
The Merry Maidens
The Merry Maidens , also known as Dawn's Men is a late neolithic stone circle located 2 miles to the south of the village of St Buryan, in Cornwall, United Kingdom....
. There is also a regular Eisteddfod held in the village. St Buryan is also the home of a wisewoman. and was surveyed for the Survey of English Dialects
Survey of English Dialects
The Survey of English Dialects was undertaken between 1950 and 1961 under the direction of Professor Harold Orton of the English department of the University of Leeds. It aimed to collect the full range of speech in England and Wales before local differences were to disappear...
. The feast of St Buriana is celebrated on the Sunday nearest to May 13 (although the St Buriana's official day is 1 May) consisting of fancy dress and competitions for the children of the village and usually other entertainments later in the evening. In the summer there are also several other festivals, including the agricultural preservation rally in which vintage tractor, farm equipment, rare breed animals and threshing
Threshing machine
The thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine , was a machine first invented by Scottish mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle for use in agriculture. It was invented for the separation of grain from stalks and husks. For thousands of years, grain was separated by hand with flails,...
demonstrations are shown as well as some vintage cars and traction engine
Traction engine
A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
s. This is currently being hosted at Trevorgans farm and is traditionally held on the last Saturday of July. St Buryan is also twinned with Calan
Calan, Morbihan
Calan is a small town in the commune in the Morbihan department of the region of Brittany in north-western France.-External links:* * -References:* *...
in Morbihan
Morbihan
Morbihan is a department in Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan , the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastline.-History:...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
.
Literature, cinema and music
John le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
, whose books include The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , by John le Carré, is a British Cold War spy novel that became famous for its portrayal of Western espionage methods as being morally inconsistent with Western democracy and values. The novel received critical acclaim at the time of its publication and became an...
and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a 1974 British spy novel by John le Carré, featuring George Smiley. Smiley is a middle-aged, taciturn, perspicacious intelligence expert in forced retirement. He is recalled to hunt down a Soviet mole in the "Circus", the highest echelon of the Secret Intelligence...
has lived in St Buryan for more than forty years. Many of his novels have been adapted for film, the most recent being the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
-winning The Constant Gardener
The Constant Gardener (film)
The Constant Gardener is a 2005 drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles. The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine is based on the John le Carré novel of the same name. It tells the story of Justin Quayle, a man who seeks to find the motivating forces behind his wife's murder.The film stars Ralph Fiennes,...
in 2005. Author Derek Tangye
Derek Tangye
Derek Tangye was a well-known author who lived in Cornwall for nearly fifty years. He wrote 19 books which became known as 'The Minack Chronicles'--they were about his simple life on a clifftop daffodil farm called Dorminack, affectionately referred to as Minack, at St Buryan in the far west of...
, who died in 1996, also lived and wrote in the parish for many years, writing over twenty books, the Minack Chronicles, about life in rural Cornwall (Minack deriving from Dorminack Farm). Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
's 1971 film Straw Dogs, starring Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
, was filmed in St Buryan.
Brenda Wootton
Brenda Wootton was a Cornish poetess and folk singer and was seen as an ambassador for Cornish tradition and culture in all the Celtic nations and as far away as Australia and Canada....
, the well-known Cornish bard and folk singer, ran her celebrated 'Pipers Folk Club' in St Buryan Village Hall for a time in the late 1960s (later in Botallack
Botallack
The Botallack Mine is a former mine in Botallack in west Cornwall, United Kingdom.The village is in a former tin mining area situated between the town of St Just in Penwith and the village of Pendeen....
). Continuing the musical tradition, the village is also home to St Buryan Male Voice Choir who fulfil many engagements every year and adopt a variety of musical styles. The choir, founded over sixty years ago by Hugh Rowe whose son, Geoffrey Rowe, was born in the village, and has made his name as a singer and comedian performing as Jethro
Jethro (comedian)
Jethro is the stage name of British stand-up comedian Geoffrey Rowe, based in Lewdown in Devon. Rowe was born in 1948 in St Buryan, a village in west Cornwall....
. A female voice choir, the Buriana Singers also exists.
Art
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the parish attracted many painters from the Newlyn schoolNewlyn School
The Newlyn School is a term used to describe an art colony of artists based in or near to Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early 20th century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was reminiscent of the Barbizon School in France, where artists...
, particularly at Lamorna where a small colony led by Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch
Lamorna Birch
Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch, RA, RWS was an artist in oils and watercolours. At the suggestion of fellow artist Stanhope Forbes, Birch adopted the soubriquet "Lamorna" to distinguish himself from Lionel Birch, an artist who was also working in the area at that time.-Biography:Lamorna Birch was...
was established and included painters such as Alfred Munnings
Alfred Munnings
Sir Alfred James Munnings KCVO, PRA was known as one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken enemy of Modernism...
, Laura Knight
Laura Knight
Dame Laura Knight, DBE was an English Impressionist painter known for painting the world of London's theatre, ballet and circus.-Early life and education:...
and Harold Knight who lived and painted there. These artists were attracted by cheap living, the changeable quality of the light and a desire to paint En plein air
En plein air
En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors.Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon school and Impressionism...
. This style of painting had become increasingly popular after the introduction of paints in tubes in the 1870s, an innovation which meant that painters no longer had to make their own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil.
Economy
The major economic activity in the parish is agriculture and the parish encompasses several large farms. Most agriculture centres around dairyingDairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agricultural, or an animal husbandry, enterprise, for long-term production of milk, usually from dairy cows but also from goats and sheep, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy factory for processing and eventual retail sale.Most dairy farms...
, with arable crops such as potato and cauliflower being farmed as well as some raising of pigs and sheep. As with much of Cornwall, fishing is an important source of income and employment. Many smaller crabbers and landline fishermen operate from the various coves and harbours on the rocky shore. Before its closure at the turn of the millennium the transatlantic telephone cable station, and telecommunications educational facility, run by Cable and Wireless at Porthcurno
Porthcurno
Porthcurno is a small village in the parish of St. Levan located in a valley on the south coast of the county of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is approximately to the west of the market town of Penzance and about from Land's End, the most westerly point of the English mainland...
provided further employment opportunities in the neighbouring parish of St Levan. Its central location in west Penwith
Penwith
Penwith was a local government district in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, whose council was based in Penzance. The district covered all of the Penwith peninsula, the toe-like promontory of land at the western end of Cornwall and which included an area of land to the east that fell outside the...
and proximity to popular tourist attractions such as the Minack Theatre
Minack Theatre
The Minack Theatre is an open-air theatre, constructed above a gully with a rocky granite outcrop jutting into the sea...
, Land's End
Land's End
Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
and the Blue Flag beach
Blue Flag beach
The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education that a beach or marina meets its stringent standards.The Blue Flag is a trademark owned by FEE which is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation consisting of 65 organisations in 60 member countries in Europe,...
at Sennen
Sennen
Sennen is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
Cove, mean that St Buryan enjoys a healthy income from visitors, both day trippers and those renting accommodation, during the summer months.
Government and politics
For the purposes of local government St Buryan is a civil parish and elects 11 councillors every four years. The principal local authority in this area is Cornwall Council.Transport
Being one of the most westerly parishes in England, St Buryan is somewhat isolated from the rest of the UK. The village of St Buryan is situated approximately five miles (eight km) west of PenzancePenzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
along the B3283
Great Britain road numbering scheme
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter, which represents the road's category, and a subsequent number, with a length of between 1 and 4 digits. Originally introduced to arrange...
which forks about five miles (8 km) from the end of the A30
A30 road
The 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...
, the major trunk road that runs the length of Cornwall. Three further minor roads also meet at St Buryan, two link the village with the B3315
Great Britain road numbering scheme
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter, which represents the road's category, and a subsequent number, with a length of between 1 and 4 digits. Originally introduced to arrange...
towards Lamorna
Lamorna
Lamorna is a fishing village and cove in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Penwith peninsula approximately four miles south of Penzance.-Newlyn School of Art and the Lamorna Colony:...
, and the third rejoins the A30 at Crows-an-Wra
Crows-an-Wra
Crows-an-Wra is a hamlet in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated in the civil parish of St Buryan approximately four miles northeast of Land's End....
. St. Buryan is served by four bus routes. Services 1 and 1A run between Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
and Land's End
Land's End
Land's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
via Gwavas
Gwavas
Gwavas is a residential council estate on the southern outskirts of the town of Newlyn in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated immediately west of Gwavas Road and takes its name from nearby Gwavas Farm....
, Sheffield
Sheffield, Cornwall
Sheffield is a small settlement in Cornwall, UK, situated near the village of Paul, Cornwall.-History:Sheffield is thought to have been established to house the workers of the ‘Sheffield Quarry’ and later the surrounding farms. The settlement was built along the road into Penzance where the...
, St Buryan and Sennen
Sennen
Sennen is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
. The 300 service runs a circular route via St Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
, St Just
St Just in Penwith
St Just is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish encompasses the town of St Just and the nearby settlements of Trewellard, Pendeen and Kelynack: it is bounded by the parishes of Morvah to the north-east, Sancreed and Madron to the east, St Buryan and Sennen to...
, Sennen
Sennen
Sennen is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
, St Buryan and Newlyn
Newlyn
Newlyn is a town and fishing port in southwest Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Newlyn forms a conurbation with the neighbouring town of Penzance and is part of Penzance civil parish...
. These routes are run by First Devon & Cornwall, part of First Group. Western Greyhound
Western Greyhound
Western Greyhound is a bus operator based in Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It operates many services throughout the county and also into Devon...
service 501 runs on the same route as the 1/1A. Services run frequently from Penzance to the village until around 10 pm during the summer months, but markedly less often in the winter. Travel by rail is via the Great Western Main Line
Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in Great Britain that runs westwards from London Paddington station to the west of England and South Wales. The core Great Western Main Line runs from London Paddington to Temple Meads railway station in Bristol. A major branch of the Great...
whose westernmost terminus is located at nearby Penzance
Penzance railway station
Penzance railway station serves the town of Penzance, Cornwall, UK. The station is the western terminus of the Cornish Main Line from London Paddington station. The current journey time to or from London is about five hours....
. First Great Western
First Great Western
First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....
provides local services to nearby St Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
via the St Ives Bay Line
St Ives Bay Line
The St Ives Bay Line is a railway line from to in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It was opened in 1877, the last new broad gauge passenger railway to be constructed in the country...
as well as direct connections linking Penzance with Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, Bath, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
and Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
. Intercity services are provided both by First Great Western
First Great Western
First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....
, connecting Penzance with London Paddington, and CrossCountry
CrossCountry
CrossCountry is the brand name of XC Trains Ltd., a British train operating company owned by Arriva...
who run services to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
via the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
and also direct services to Edinburgh Waverley
Edinburgh Waverley railway station
Edinburgh Waverley railway station is the main railway station in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. Covering an area of over 25 acres in the centre of the city, it is the second-largest main line railway station in the United Kingdom in terms of area, the largest being...
and Glasgow Central via Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
. St Buryan's closest airports are Land's End Aerodrome, with flights to the Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...
, Newquay which carries flights to Gatwick and Stansted
Stansted
Stansted usually refers to London Stansted Airport.Stansted may also refer to other places in England:*Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex*Stansted, Hampshire*Stansted, Kent*Stansted Park, West Sussex...
, and Plymouth, which connects with Gatwick, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Dublin and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
.
Amenities
Commercial activity in St Buryan centres around Churchtown where a well stocked village store, run under a LondisLondis
Londis is the name for two convenience store franchises operating in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The stores form a symbol group and are all owned on a franchise basis.-Great Britain:...
franchise
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
and housing an ATM
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...
cashpoint, plus a post office, an antiques shop and the St Buryan Inn are located. There is also a garage at the eastern end of the village that runs a limited coach service. The village was also previously served by its own butchers shop, this was closed in 1990 due to combination of the economic recession and pressure from the recently opened Safeway
Safeway (UK)
Safeway was a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in the United Kingdom. It started as a subsidiary of the American Safeway Inc., before being sold off in 1987....
(now Morrisons) supermarket in nearby Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
. A doctor's branch surgery is currently held in the village cricket pavilion every Thursday between twelve and one pm. At other times patients must travel to the surgery in nearby St Just
St Just in Penwith
St Just is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish encompasses the town of St Just and the nearby settlements of Trewellard, Pendeen and Kelynack: it is bounded by the parishes of Morvah to the north-east, Sancreed and Madron to the east, St Buryan and Sennen to...
, the West Cornwall hospital in Penzance or the Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske)
Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske)
The Royal Cornwall Hospital, formerly and still known outside of local television news as Treliske Hospital, is a medium-sized teaching hospital situated in Treliske on the outskirts of Truro, Cornwall, England...
, Truro.