ST BURYAN

a Parish in the far west of Cornwall with a fascinating history of human habitation stretching back at least five thousand years – the stuff from which myths and legends have evolved.

St. Buryan is both a village and a Parish in the Hundred of Penwith. The Parish encompasses St. Buryan Churchtown and the settlements of Alsa, Bolleigh, Boscawenoon, Boscawen-rose, Pemberth Cove, Rosemoddris, Selina, Treeve, Tregagwith, Trelew, Tregurno, Tevorga, and Trevorrian, as well as a number of farms.

Comprised of 6,972 acres of land, 3 acres of water and 18 acres of foreshore, it shares boundaries with the Parishes of Sancreed and St. Just in the north, Sennen and St. Levan in west, Paul to the east and is bounded by sea in the south. Most of the Parish lies on granite, but the black soil is fertile and well cultivated and there has always been an agrarian economy with the main activities being dairy farming as well as the raising of pigs and sheep with such crops as potatoes and cauliflower. Due to the influence of the North Atlantic Drift the average temperature in Cornwall is several degrees warmer than that further north, enabling spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils to bloom early – and growers in St. Buryan take advantage of this to supply the London and European markets with early daffodils.

The population in 1841 was 1911, but this gradually declined over the next two hundred years as the increased mechanisation of farming meant that fewer people were needed to work the land and many left to either seek work elsewhere or to emigrate. By 1971 there were only 971 persons living in the Parish, but the population is again on the increase with the 2001 Census recording a total of 1215. Due to its central location in West Penwith and its close proximity to popular tourist attractions such as the Minack Theatre and Lands End, St. Buryan enjoys a healthy income from tourism, and people are moving into the area.

According to local legend, St. Buryan was named after a 6th century Christian Missionary from Ireland named “Beriana”, of whom little is known. According to some she came across to Cornwall with St. Piran - while others say that she was a friend of St. Patrick. Another possibility is that “Bury-an” meant a “burial place”, and that the woman took her name from the village, rather than vice versa. It is said that she established an oratory where, again according to legend, the Saxon King Althensan made his communion before completing his conquest of Cornwall by capturing the Isles of Scilly from the Danes. In gratitude he endowed a Church in honour of Beriana in 930 AD, with a charter that established St. Buryan as one of the earliest monasteries in Cornwall .

Under the charter, the Collegiate Church of St. Buryan, and its daughter Churches of St. Levan and Sennen formed the Royal Deanery of St. Buryan - which was a Royal Peculiar and fell

directly under the jurisdiction of the British Monarch, who claimed the right to appoint the Dean of St. Buryan, rather than under the jurisdiction of the Diocese, which meant that the Dean did not answer to the Bishop and there was no diocesan supervision.

The consequences of this for genealogists is that there are no early Parish Registers and there are no Bishop’s Transcripts of the Registers. The Royal Deanery of St. Buryan also had its own ecclesiastical courts for probate and other matters. And the consequence for the poor parishioners was that the Rectors, who were all holders of royal office, rarely, if ever, visited the Parish, leaving the daily affairs of the Parish to Prebends (who were almost never there) and to minor clerks.