It is rather a curious circumstance that the word Zabuloe added to
Perran, for the distinction of this parish, is not derived from the
Celtic, but through the French sable from sabulum, a word frequently
used by Pliny as indicative of sand or gravel.
Unfortunately, some leaves are wanting from Mr. Tonkin’s manuscript of
this parish, so that no account is found in it, either of the
amphitheatre, or of the consecrated well which belongs to Perran
Zabuloe; although, by a singular anomaly, the Perran in Kerrier bears
the name as an addition, at least in common parlance. Doctor Borlase
has given a description and a plan of this curious Round, as it is
usually called, in his work on the Natural History of Cornwall,
printed at Oxford in 1758, where, at p. 298, he says:――“The area of
the amphitheatre is perfectly level, and about one hundred and thirty
feet in diameter. The benches, seven in number, rise eight feet from
the area. The top of the rampart is seven feet wide; it slopes
externally into a foss, which rises by another slope to the level of
the country. There is a circular pit nearly in the centre, thirteen
feet in diameter, and three feet deep, the sides also sloping. Half
way down is a bench of turf, so formed as to reduce the bottom to an
ellipsis; and a shallow trench four feet six inches wide, and one foot
deep, runs in an easterly direction to the nearest part of the circle,
where it terminates in a semi-oval cavity extending eleven feet from
north to south, and nine feet from east to west, making a breach in
the benches.”
This and other similar works in Cornwall, are believed to have
accommodated great numbers of spectators when the Guary Mir, or
miracle plays, were performed. One of them, mentioned by Doctor
Borlase, “The Creation of the World,” with Mr. Keigwyn’s Translation,
the editor of this work has given to the public, and also the Metrical
History of the Passion of our Saviour on Mount Calvary.
The well consecrated by St. Perran is not understood to possess any
peculiar qualities, but up to the present time its waters, accompanied
by the ceremony of passing children through the cleft of a rock on the
sea shore, are believed to cure various diseases, and particularly the
rickets.
The encroachments of the sand have caused no less than three churches
to be built after considerable intervals of time in this parish. The
last was commenced in 1804; and in this year (1835) a building has
been discovered more ancient than the first of the churches, and not
improbably the oratory of St. Perran himself.
The length of this chapel within the walls is 25 feet, without 30
feet; the breadth within 12½ feet, and the height of the walls the
same.
At the eastern end is a neat altar of stone covered with lime, four
feet long by two and a half feet wide, and three feet high. Eight
inches above the centre of the altar is a recess in the wall, where
probably stood a crucifix; and on the north side of the altar is a
small doorway through which the priest may have entered. Out of the
whole length the chancel extended exactly six feet. In the centre of
what may be termed the nave, in the south wall, occurs a round-arched
doorway, highly ornamented. The building is however without any trace
of window, and there is only one small opening, apparently, for the
admission of air.
The discovery has excited much curiosity throughout the neighbourhood,
which has unfortunately manifested itself by the demolition of every
thing curious in this little oratory, to be borne away as relics.
Very little is known concerning the saint who has given his name to
the three Perrans. He is however held in great veneration, and
esteemed the patron of all Cornwall, or at least of the mining
district. By an anachronism of fifteen hundred years or more, he was
considered as the person who first found tin; and this conviction
induced the miners to celebrate his day (the fifth of March) with so
much hilarity, that any one unable to guide himself along the road,
has received the appellation of a Perraner; and that again, has been
most unjustly reflected as a habit on the saint.
It may here be worthy of remark, that, as the miners impute the
discovery of tin to St. Perran, so they ascribe its reduction from the
ore, in a large way, to an imaginary personage, Saint Chiwidden; but
chi-wadden is the white house, and must therefore mean a smelting or
blowing house, where the black ore of tin is converted into a white
metal.
In the Lives of the Saints, published by Doctor Butler, where all
miraculous adventures, like swimming on millstones, are carefully
omitted, the following history is given of our saint.
“St. Kiaran or Kenerin, Bishop and Confessor, called by the
Britons, Piran or Perron.
“Among the Irish saints, who were somewhat older than St.
Patrick, the first and most celebrated is St. Kiaran, whom
the Irish style the first-born of their saints. According to
some, he was a native of the county of Ossory, according to
others, of Cork. Usher places his birth about the year 352.
Having received some imperfect information about the
Christian faith, at thirty years of age, he took a journey
to Rome, that he might be instructed in its heavenly
doctrine, and learn faithfully to practice its precepts. He
was accompanied home by four holy clerks, who were all
afterwards bishops; their names are Lugacius, Columban,
Lugad, and Cassan.
“The Irish writers suppose him to have been ordained Bishop
at Rome; but what John of Tinmouth affirms seems far more
probable, that he was one of the twelve whom St. Patrick
consecrated Bishops in Ireland, to assist him in planting
the Gospel in that island. For his residence he built
himself a cell in a place encompassed with woods, near the
water of Fueran, which soon grew into a numerous monastery.
A town was afterwards built there, called Saigar, now from
the saint Sîer Keran. Here he converted to the faith his
family, and his whole clan, which was that of the Osraigs,
with many others. Having given the religious veil to his
mother, whose name was Lidain, he appointed her a cell or
monastery near his own, called by the Irish Ceall Lidain. In
his old age, being desirous to prepare himself for his
passage to eternity in close retirement, he passed into
Cornwall, where he led an eremitical life, near the Severn
sea, fifteen miles from Padstow. Certain disciples joined
him, and by his words and example, formed themselves to a
true spirit of Christian piety and humility. In this place
he closed his mortal pilgrimage by a happy death. A town
upon the spot is to this day called from him St. Piran’s in
the Sands; and a church is there dedicated to God in his
memory, where was formerly a sanctuary near St. Mogun’s
church, upon St. Mogun’s Creek.[11] See John of Tinmouth,
Usher, &c. collected by Henschenius; also Leland’s
Collectanea, published by Hearne, tom. III. pp. 10 and 174.”
It seems to be much more probable, that St. Perran took an active part
with the Irish missionaries, perhaps as their chief, since he obtained
such great celebrity in this county, than, according to Doctor Butler,
that he should have come over to Cornwall in extreme old age, and have
done his utmost to render the remaining years of his life utterly
useless to the service of his Maker or to mankind. A white cross on a
black ground was formerly the banner of St. Perran, and the standard
of Cornwall; probably with some allusion to the black ore and the
white metal of tin. Capgrave says that St. Perran attained an age
exceeding two hundred years.
In the new edition of Dugdale’s Monasticon, vol. VI. p. 1449, an
account is given of a college supposed to have been here; but,
excepting that the church was given by King Henry the First to the
Bishop and Church of Exeter, who still enjoy the great tithes and the
advowson of the vicarage, it clearly refers to the college dedicated
to St. Perran in the parish of Keverne. The shrine of St. Perran,
however, containing his head and other relics, was at this place;
Lysons quotes a deed in the registry of Exeter, showing the great
resort of pilgrims hither in 1485; and in the will of Sir John
Arundell 1433, occurs this bequest: “Item lego ad usum parochie S’c’i
Pyerani in Zabulo ad claudendum capud S. Pierani honorificè et meliori
modo quo sciunt xls.[12]”
The great tithes of this parish have long been held on lease for lives
under the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, by the family of Enys of Enys.
The present incumbent is the Rev. John Buller, instituted in 1818, who
is also vicar of St. Just in Penwith, son of Mr. Edward Buller of
Portlooe, and brother of the judge.
Chiverton, having belonged to the Arundells, was sold in 1703 to John
Rosogan, esq. In 1724 it was again sold to Mr. John Andrew of
Trevellance, maternal great-grandfather to the late John Thomas, esq.
an eminent attorney, and afterwards Vice Warden of the Stannaries,
where Mr. Thomas built an excellent house with extensive gardens and
plantations; this place has descended to his only daughter, who
married William Peter, esq. of Haslyn, member for Bodmin in the
Parliament of 1832. They have still further improved the place, and
made it their chief residence.
Perran Zabuloe measures 9499 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815 3,385 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831 851 14 0
Population, { in 1801, | in 1811, | in 1821, | in 1831,
{ 1389 | 1527 | 1702 | 2793
giving an increase of 101 per cent. in 30 years.