Perranzabuloe

Perranzabuloe ('Perran in the sands'), a Cornish coast parish, 10 miles N. by W. of Truro. The rude little stone oratory (25 by 12½ feet) of St Piran, who was sent to Cornwall by St Patrick in the 5th century, had been buried in the sands for a thousand years, when it was discovered in 1835; it is probably the earliest ecclesiastical structure in England. Perran Round is a circular enclosure, with seven rows of seats that could seat 2000, in which miracle plays were performed of old. See works by Haslam (1844) and Trelawny (8th ed. 1884).