Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/251



antiquities of the county of Cornwall have been investigated and described by several writers, who have bestowed especial notice upon the numerous traces of primeval times still existing in the west; one interesting class, however, of ancient remains has not received the careful notice which it appears to deserve. I allude to the ancient oratories of Cornwall, formerly very numerous, as shewn by the Domesday Book and various Ecclesiastical records; even within the last century many of these primitive chapels existed, which are not to be found at the present time, but evidences may still be adduced to shew their interesting character. By diligent search I have been enabled to discover a few of these simple places of worship, and to trace the existence of others; few, indeed, when compared with the number which once appear to have been scattered throughout Cornwall, especially in the more remote western parts of the county. Until the discovery, in 1835, of the oratory of St. Piran, after it had for centuries been buried in the sands, scarcely was any thing known concerning these venerable structures; that discovery has thrown a new light upon the Ecclesiastical antiquities of the west, and exposed to view, as those who have visited St. Piran can scarcely hesitate to believe, a relic of the British Church founded at the earliest period of its establishment. The oratories to which I have alluded, long neglected and desecrated, are of course now found in a most dilapidated condition; but by careful observation peculiarities of construction and arrangement may still be traced, sufficing, with the information supplied by the chapel of St. Piran, which in so remarkable a manner had been preserved from desecration and ruin, to give a clear notion of their original character. To those who are accustomed to admire the beautiful structures erected during the Norman or subsequent periods, the con-