A SAINT'S MISFORTUNE

179 some of these kings condemned the saint-for reasons not disclosed-to be cast over a precipice into the sea with a millstone about his neck. St. Piran, however, floated on safely to Cornwall, and he landed on March 5th on the sands which still bear his name-Perranzabuloe, or Perran on the Sands. The saint's day of St. Kiran was March 5th, that of St. Piran May 2nd.

The Rev. W. S. Lach-Szyrma, in a paper he read before the British Archæological Society in 1906, says: "St. Perran or Kieran, to whom there are four parishes dedicated, the doyen of Cornish saints, a wonderful Irish missionary, about whom many legends are told, and to whom is dedicated the oldest church in South Britain, Perranzabuloe, and three other parish churches."

CHAPTER XVIII

PENDEEN, MORVAH, CHUN, ZENNOR

HE road from St. Just, almost due north at a distance

THE

of two miles, conducts one to a simple Cornish village called Pendeen. The village itself is absolutely devoid of interest of any kind, and if it were not for the church no one would pause in its precincts. The country to the immediate north of St. Just is dreary in the extreme. It reminds one forcibly of the wilds of the West of Ireland without the glorious mountains bounding the view. Here and there deserted mines are seen on the country-side, each consisting of a ruined tall chimney and a square, generally roofless, ruined building attached.

A conical hill, Carn Kenidjack, is seen on the right and a little further north Chûn Castle; otherwise the country-side is flat and barren.

The church of Pendeen lies off the village on the right, up a cul-de-sac road, beyond the end of which is unattractive moor. The edifice is certainly finer-looking than such a paltry village seems to warrant, wearing a well-to-do look, with a good square tower and a grand clock. The roof of the chancel is lofty and sharply peaked, and the whole is enclosed by a solidly built granite wall castellated and looking semi-medieval. The entrance-gates are of iron, set in a castellated opening, with an arched postern-gate on either side.

The church was designed by the Rev. Robert Aitken on the plan of the ancient cathedral of Iona, and was built almost entirely by the natives of the place themselves. I noticed in the church one of the common names was " Oats," and another Nankerris."

66

Pendeen is, however, noted as being the birthplace, at Pendeen House, half a mile from the coast, of Dr. William Borlase, the famous historian of the county. The house is

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CORNISH CASTLES

181

quaint-looking, and it bears the date 1670. The historian was born there in 1695. No wonder Borlase developed a taste for antiquities, living as he did in the midst of such a wealth of them. Close to the house is an ancient artificial cave, or vau," which consisted of three passages, now filled up. It is quite unknown to what use such caves (for another exactly similar one is known at Bolleit and elsewhere) were put. Probably they were hiding-places used by the Celts in times when the Danes or Romans harried them.

From Pendeen we struck off to the right, and calling at a delightful old farm-house, got the courteous farmer to direct us to Chûn Castle. He gave us directions, kindly allowed us to put up our jingle1 in his farm-yard, and then, not content with having shown us the way, in order to prevent our going wrong, set out with us and walked till he could show us the spot we sought.

Chûn Castle is the most perfect of the remaining hill castles, which are all circular or nearly so. Ch'ûn, Choone, or Chy-an-Woon signifies a house on the down or common, and this is situated on a most commanding hill four miles and three-quarters west-north-west from Penzance. The castle is, of course, absolutely unlike what is called a castle in most parts of England and Wales. You see no lofty towers, no donjon keeps, no high encircling walls. Your eye might roam over it and pass on to bare country beyond, and not be arrested by anything unusual. The site is, as usual, unfortunately overgrown with rank brambles and other vegetation, and unless actually looked for could not be found. However, a close inspection shows that Chûn Castle consists of two concentric stone walls, with a space of thirty feet between them, much dilapidated. The inner wall, which is about twelve feet in thickness, the county historian, Dr. Borlase, considered to have been fifteen feet high, and the less massive outer one ten feet high, the remains in his day having evidently been much higher than they are now. Within the inner circle or wall and concentric with it at a distance of thirty feet are the remains of "a circular line of stonework," with ten or more straight lines or partitions of similar stonework connecting it with the inner wall, forming apparently so many pent-houses in

1 English equivalent is " governess-car."