Churches and chapels in Cornwall range from small and simple places that nestle in the landscape, to assertive buildings with tall towers and steeples. Early Christian sites borrowed traditions connected to older beliefs. Many Cornish saints reflect earlier myths, and chapels were built on or near holy wells. Changes to religion in the 1500s removed ornaments and statues, and the later arrival of Methodism brought simple chapels.
As the legend goes, St Piran arrived in Cornwall from Ireland, having tied himself to a millstone and rolling off a cliff into the sea. St Piran’s Oratory is a small chapel on the sand dunes above Perranporth and the location where St Piran is said to have landed on Cornwall’s shores.
On display in the Heart of Cornwall Gallery is this small stone carving, known as a grotesque. It is over 1000 years old and was found in 1838. It is part of what would have made up the decorative carvings on St Piran’s Oratory.
