Churches of the British Isles

Ellenglaze Priory can be seen when looking due west from Cubert, at the far end of the lane of the same name. Cubert's church (see links) is full of memorials to the local Hosken family who lived at the house. The manor is now Grade II listed, and probably dates from the mid-to-late seventeenth century, with later alterations. It is built from the remains of a medieval priory which had been founded for monks from Bodmin. Remnants can still be seen in the cellar.

St Piran's Oratory can be found on Penhale Sands, immediately north of Haven Perran Sands Holiday Park which itself lies a little way north of Perranporth. It probably replaced (post-1066) an earlier chapel which may have been built by St Piran himself. Around 1150, sand began to surround the oratory which was then abandoned and later lost. It was excavated in 1835 and 1843, poorly preserved in 1910 under a concrete shield, reburied in 1980, and finally rescued in 2014.

St Piran's Old Church & Cross ruins can be found a hundred metres north of St Piran's Oratory (above). It replaced the oratory when that was engulfed by sand in the 900s. It was built nearby, on the inland side of the stream which protected it from encroachment by sand. It was completed by the 1100s, and enlarged in 1462. Then tin mining dried up the stream to allow in the sand. The last service was held in 1795, prior to the materials being used for Perranzabuloe church.

Rejerrah Old Chapel lies on the northern flank of the eastward lane out of the village centre, about five hundred metres west of the A3075. It was replaced by a new build (see below) but baptism records date from 1857. With the new chapel built in 1879, this became the Sunday school. There is no record of what happened to it when the new Sunday school was built next to the newer chapel but it does seem to have had various usages, including as storage.

Rejerrah Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, with Sunday school, sits on the southern side of the same eastwards lane as for the previous entry, next to Melrose Farm. It was built in 1879 to replace the old chapel (above). A new Sunday school was built onto the chapel, with this being completed in 1903. The chapel closed in 1978 with plans to convert it into a dwelling, although in 2022 it was still serving as a workshop. The Sunday school is now a holiday home.

Four photos on this page by Jo Lewis, one kindly contributed by Stefano Kustermann via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group, and one via Geograph under a Creative Commons licence.