St Buryan's Church

A church has stood on the current site of St Buryan's Church since c. 930. King Athelstan stopped to pray at Saint Buriana's chapel, of which little now remains, during his conquest of Cornwall before his campaign against the Scilly Isles. He vowed to erect a college of clergy where the oratory stood if God blessed his expedition with success. Upon his triumphant return, having subdued Scilly, Athelstan endowed a church in honour of Saint Buriana with a charter that established St Buryan as one of the earliest monasteries in Cornwall.

The church structure was later enlarged and dedicated to the saint in 1238 by Bishop William Brewer However, by 1473 the church had fallen into disrepair, with large sections having to be subsequently rebuilt. The current tower was completed in 1501. Many years later the same granite was used to build Old London Bridge. The tower is divided into four stages, and has double buttresses at each angle. An octagonal turret rises at the south-east corner and contains a spiral staircase. The bulk of the present church building was added in the late 15th and 16th century and the north wall re-built in the 18th century, at the same time as the demolition of a small lean-to chapel on the north wall of the chancel. In 1814, the church was restored yet again.

The Church's tower currently houses six handsome bells that call the faithful of St Buryan to worship. St Buryan's famous bells, which contain both the world's third heaviest treble bell and a magnificent tenor bell (the heaviest tenor bell of any six-bell peal), help give the church of St Buryan the heaviest peal of six bells anywhere in the world.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

St Buryan, Penwith, United Kingdom

Details

Founded: 15th century
Category: Religious sites in United Kingdom