A Footpath off the Coast Path - along the MOD boundary fence - leads to St Pirans Oratory (ruins) overlooked
by a large modern Cross and further East to its replacement Church (ruins) and St. Piran's Cross.
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St Piran's Cross , amongst the sand dunes of Penhale Sands ,is the earliest recorded stone cross in Cornwall.
A Granite Monument nearly 9ft tall with a circular head of a 4 hole type decorated with lines of punch dots.
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Nearby the foundations of a late 12th century Church built to replace The Oratory.
Overwhelmend by sand , dismantled 1805 , and used to build a new Church at Perranzabuloe - well inland.
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St Piran's Oratory is about 400m to the west , from the C6 or C7 .
It is one of the oldest Christian buildings on mainland Britain - over 1,300 years old.
It was eventually inundated by Sand and a new Church was built.
Excavated in 1835 ,1843 - Covered with a Concrete Structure 1910 to 1980 - Reburied in 1980 and finally
re-excavated in 2014 - Conservation in Progress ! ,
not looking it's best and continuing to suffer from the Sands and Floods.
Ref: 4230
Date: 10/10/2016
Location: SW 7721 5645