Cornish Legends
Saints, Mermaids & Phoenicians
St piran Man of Tin?
The Legend
HOW ST PIRAN REACHED CORNWALL
Piran's
family origins are obscure; tradition says he came from Ireland. Spent his youth
in South Wales where he founded a church in Cardiff. Received religious
schooling at the monastery of Saint Cadog at Llancarfon, where he would have met
Saint Finnian (Born about 495; died 589).1 The two returned together to Ireland where Finnian founded six
monasteries, including his most famous one at Clonard. Piran lived there before
Saint Enda on Aran Island, and then Saint Senan on Scattery Island. Founded his
own community at Clonmacnoise, "Ireland's University".
2
The legend says Piran 3.
was captured in his old age by pagan Irish, jealous of his
miraculous powers, especially his ability to heal.
On a boisterous day, a crowd of the lawless Irish assembled on the brow of a cliff, with Piran in chains. By great labour they had rolled a huge millstone to the top of the hill, and Piran was chained to it. At a signal from one of the kings, the stone and the saint were rolled to the edge of, and suddenly over, the cliff into the Atlantic. The winds were blowing tempestuously, the heavens were dark with clouds, and the waves white with crested foam. No sooner was Piran and the millstone launched into space, than the sun shone out brightly, casting the full luster of its beams on the holy man, who sat tranquilly on the descending stone. The winds died away, and the waves became smooth as a mirror. The moment the millstone touched the water, hundreds were converted to Christianity who saw this miracle. St Piran floated on safely to Cornwall; he landed on the 5th of March at Perran Beach, built a small chapel on Penhale Sands, and made his first converts - a badger, a fox, and a bear. He lived amongst the Cornish men until he attained the age of 206 years. 4
The discovery of Tin
On his arrival in Cornwall St Piran,, lead a lonely life on the plains which now bear his name, devoting himself to the study of the objects which presented themselves to his notice. The good saint decorated the altar in his church with the choicest flowers, and his cell was adorned with the crystals which he could collect from the neighbouring rocks. In his wanderings on the sea-shore, St Piran could not help but observe the numerous mineral veins running through the slate-rocks forming the beautiful cliffs on this coast. He collected examples of every kind ; and on one occasion, when preparing his humble meal, a heavy black stone was employed to form a part of the fireplace. The fire was more intense than usual, and a stream of beautiful white metal flowed out of the fire. Great was the joy of the saint; he perceived that God, in His goodness, had discovered to him something which would be useful to man. St Piran communicated his discovery to St Chiwidden.* They examined the shores together, and Chiwidden, who was learned in the learning of the East, soon devised a process for producing this metal in large quantities. The two saints called the Cornish men together. They told them of their treasures, and they taught them how to dig the ore from the earth, and how, by the agency of fire, to obtain the metal. Great was the joy in Cornwall, and many days of feasting followed the announcement. Mead and methegun, with other drinks, flowed in abundance; and vile rumour says the saints and their people were rendered equally unstable thereby. “Drunk as a Perraner,” has certainly passed into a proverb from that day.
The riot of joy at length came to an end, and steadily, seriously, the tribes of Perran and St Agnes set to work. They soon accumulated a vast quantity of this precious metal; and when they carried it to the southern coasts, the merchants from Gaul eagerly purchased it of them. The noise of the discovery, even in those days, rapidly extended itself; and even the cities of Tyre learned that a metal, precious to them, was to be obtained in a country far to the west. The Phoenician navigators were not long in finding out the Tin Islands; and great was the alarm amidst the Cornish Britons lest the source of their treasure should be discovered Then it was they intrenched the whole of St Agnes beacon; then it was they built the numerous hill castles which have puzzled the antiquarian; then it was that they constructed the rounds, amongst which the Perran Round remains as a remarkable example, all of them to protect their tin ground. So resolved were the whole of the population of the district to preserve the tin workings, that they prevented any foreigner from landing on the mainland, and they established tin markets on the islands on the coast. On these islands were hoisted the standard of Cornwall, a white cross on a black ground, which was the device of St Perran and St Chiwidden, symbolising the black tin ore and the white metal.5.
The Evidence
This then is the legend of St Piran, the patron Saint of Cornwall. But is the legend based on fact?
By an anachronism of fifteen hundred years or more, St. Piran was considered as the person who first found tin; and this conviction induced the miners to celebrate his day, the 5th of March.
Davis
Gilbert tells us that “St
Piran’s-day is said to be a favourite with the tinners. Having a tradition
that some secrets regarding the manufacture of tin was communicated to their
ancestors by that saint, they leave the manufacture to shift for itself for that
day, and keep it as a holiday.”
However Picrous, or Piecras, is another name which has been floating by tradition, down the stream of time, in connection with the discovery of tin in the eastern portion of Cornwall. Quiller Couch obligingly favours us with the following note on Picrous.day:— “The second Thursday before Christmas-day is a festival observed by the tinners of the district of Blackmore, in Cornwall and known as Picrous.day. It is not at present marked by any distinctive ceremonies, but it is the occasion of a supper and much merry-making. The owner of the tin-stream contributes a shilling a man towards it. This is said to be the feast of the discovery of tin by a man named Picrous. What truth there may be in the tradition of the first tinner, Picrous, it is now too late to discover, but the notion is worth recording. It has occurred to me whether, from some similarity between the names (not a close one, I admit it), the honours of Picrous may not have been transferred to St Piran, who is generally said to be the patron saint of tinners. St Piran is not known in Blackmore, and his festival is on the 5th of March.
Usher places the date of Piran's birth about the year 352. 7. However, it is claimed that he was a contemporary of St. Finnian who according to the Catholic church was born about 495 and died in the year 589. 8. This would have would have meant that the tin and the smelting of it would not have been known in Cornwall before this date yet we know from other writings that Tin was being exported from Cornwall before that date.
Julius
Caesar, writing in B.C. 40 about Britain, in his "Wars" (v.12) had
this to say -
"The inland parts of Britain are inhabited by those, whose fame reports to be the natives of the soil. The sea-coast is peopled with the Belgians, drawn thither by the love of war and plunder. These last, passing over from different parts, and settling in the country, still retain the names of the several states whence they are descended. The island is well peopled, full of houses, built after the manner of the Gauls, and abounds in cattle. They use brass money, and iron rings of a certain weight. The provinces remote from the sea produce tin, and those upon the coast, iron, but the latter in no great quantity." 9.
There are three places in Cornwall to which the name of Perran is given ;—
Perran-A~vorthall—i.e., Pert-an on the noted River.Piran founded churches at Perran-Uthno and Perran-Arworthal, a chapel at Tintagel, and a holy-well called the "Venton-Barren" at Probus. He is also said to have made trips to Brittany where he is remembered in the area around the village of Glomel where a manor is named after him.
He
is also remembered in Arthurian tradition. Geoffrey of
Monmouth says he was chaplain to King Arthur, and Archbishop
of York after Saint Samson was exiled by Saxon invasions, though it is doubtful
he ever took up his See.11.
Piran died at his little hermitage near the beach. His
relics were a great draw to pilgrims but, due to inundation by the sands, they
were moved inland to the Parish Church of Perran-Zabulo, built to house them. 12.
A college, dedicated to St Piran, once stood in
the parish of St Kevern (Dugdale’s “Monasticon,” vol. vi.. This
probably had some connection with Perran
Uthnoe. The shrine of St Perran was in that parish, which is said to have
contained his bead, and other relics.
This sufficiently proves that the saint, or some one bearing that name, was eminently popular amongst the people; and in St Piran we have an example - of which several instances are given - of the manner in which a very ancient event is shifted forward, as it were, for the purpose of investing some popular hero with additional reasons for securing the devotion of the people, and of drawing them to his shrine.
The tinners of Cornwall also have a festival to commemorate the discovery of smelting.” 13.
Just as the legend imputes the discovery of tin to St Piran, so it ascribe its reduction from the ore, in a large way, to what is believed to be an imaginary person, St Chiwidden. The last Thursday before Christmas day - was formally always claimed by the tinners as a holiday, and was called by them "White Thursday" (Jew-widn), because on this day, according to tradition, back tin (Tin Ore) was melted and refined into white tin. From Jew-widn to Chy-widden is an easy transition. Jew-widn is a name given to the old furnaces generally caled Jew's houses.
But Pawley- White tells us that
chi-widden translates from the Cornish as white house , and must, therefore, mean a smelting or blowing-house, where the black ore of tin is converted into a white metal. 14.
Colgan, Acta Sanct. Hib. (Louvain, 1645)
Davies Gilbert (1838), Parochial History of Cornwall, Vol III, p. 332.
See Gilbert, vol iii. P. 329. The name of this saint is written Piran, Peran, and Perran.
"Popular Romances of the West of England" Robert Hunt. p. 272
ibid p.274
ibid Gilbert
Usher
Usserii Britannicar. Eccl. Antiq. c. xi. p. 185. ed. Lond. 1687.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VI
Julius Caesar, writing in B.C. 40 about Britain, in his "Wars" (v.12)
ibid 4.
Geoffrey of Monmoth. "History of the Kings of Britain,"
Canon G.H. Doble. Old Cornwall Vol.3 1937 - 1942 P. 501
ibid 4.
G. Pawley-White: A Handbook of Cornish Surnames. Pub Dyllansow Truran 1999.
R. Morton Nance: A Guide to Cornish Place-Names. Pub Cornish Language Board.