It has been some time since my last
newsletter in January. We have not had a lot to report in addition to what
has already been reported, though we are continuing to make good progress.
As before, our main progress has
been in the excavation and maintenance of the Old Church, which, if you have
not yet visited and have a chance to do so, I highly recommend. We are now
implementing the Management Plan for the Old Church, and will shortly be
renewing the limewash on the walls.
We
have published with the support of the Historic Environment Service of the
County Council a very well produced and informative short brochure about the
Old Church, which we are selling at a very reasonable £3-50 (the proceeds of
course go to the Trust). You may be able to see in the cover of the brochure
I have reproduced next to this paragraph the water colour of the Old Church
(it can be seen more easily on the web site) – the original of the painting
has been donated to the Trust by Prof Charles Thomas. We have also produced
a very detailed report on the archaeology of the site. I hope we will soon
be able to put this on the web site so that it can be downloaded. The Trust
is immensely grateful to Dick Cole for his support and hard work in
producing these materials.
I hope you managed to get to the
Round in August where the Miracle Theatre performed a marvelous version of
The Taming of the Shrew. We have been maintaining the Round with financial
support from English Heritage as well as from our own sources of funds
(namely you), and it is looking good – it is now possible to walk around the
outside perimeter, though we have some more cutting to do.
All the sites now have beautifully
designed and informative interpretation boards in Cornish and English.
The Trust’s strategy is therefore
slowly being achieved. As I have set out in previous newsletters, the
strategy we made in 2001 was to get the Old Church excavated and on a
sustainable management plan, by which time we would have the experience to
tackle the excavation of Oratory and the time to undertake the
hydrogeological survey of the environment of the Oratory. It is now time for
us to focus on our main goal, which is the excavation of the Oratory and its
subsequent preservation so that it can once more be seen.
We will have nearly four years of
data, gathered in very wet and very dry conditions. The data conclusively
show that draining the Oratory would not damage the adjacent colony of
shoredock. The Oratory will need draining, but that should be a relatively
simple matter and do no damage to the environment.
We are therefore about to embark on
a major fundraising campaign. The total cost of the project has yet to be
estimated in detail, but will certainly approach £200,000. We are applying
through the County Council for Heritage Lottery funds, but will need to
raise matching funds from other sources, including donations. We are at
present designing a comprehensive strategy for fundraising, and any ideas
you may have will be welcome. Many of you will be aware that the London
Olympics is sucking up arts and cultural funds from all over the country,
and that budgets for organizations like ours will be significantly affected,
but we hope our various applications will succeed.
As
part of our campaign we are establishing a Friends of St Piran Trust
organization (we wanted to call them Piranners – what do you think?). We
will be sending invitations to join the Friends which will bring with it
recognition in the final report of the Oratory’s excavation as well as
copies of documentation and possibly other benefits.
Our plan is that 2008 will see the
finalization of plans and the acquisition of all statutory permissions, and
that excavation will be completed in 2009. It seems a long way ahead, but
when I think of how long it has taken us to get this far, it does not seem
so far away!
A number of people have asked me
about the stained glass window showing St Piran. It is located in the chapel
of St Piran and St Michael near Tintagel, on the way to St Nectan’s Glen.
Next to the chapel is St Piran’s Well, which is, unfortunately, where the
local residents leave their rubbish for collection. I always used to think
in my youth when I visited it in the 1960s that this was the well he fell
down…
So, in conclusion, our need for financial and other support will be greater
than ever from now on, as we enter the final stages of our campaign! Please
get in touch, and visit the web site, and if you have the opportunity,
spread the word! And do
Perran
Penrose
Chairman
