Here we
are again in March, and the March 5th
(and days before and after) celebrations of St Piran’s Day. The march
on the dunes will take place on March 9th with the enactment of
the play.
As most of
you know, some of the action in the play takes place around the buried
Oratory, and some of the action by the Old Church. So if you go along to the
march you will see, if you have not done so already, the marvellous job that
Dick Cole of the County Council’s Heritage Environment Service and his team
of professionals and volunteers has done. The Trust is now charged with
maintaining the site, and you will also see evidence of that. However, we do
notice that people enter the church the wrong way and that we will be faced
with a continuous job of repairing damage caused by children climbing and
perhaps adults jumping: however, that is the price we pay for maintaining
open access sites, and the existence of the Trust will, we hope, ensure that
the site does remain both open and in good repair.
One of our
reasons for starting with the excavation of the Old Church was to give us
experience of supporting large projects. We not only initiated the work
through our advocacy and discussion, but we also worked with the Council on
the project and provided the community partnership that is a necessary
condition for raising the funds. We are also gaining experience of the
organisation of maintenance, which, while not difficult, relies on voluntary
labour, and therefore does take some organisation.
These
skills will be far more in demand once the Oratory is uncovered.
You
can see a larger copy of the photograph reproduced here on our web site
gallery – the photo is of the Oratory before it was covered by the bunker.
The archaeologists tell us that it will probably be possible to strengthen
what remains so that it can be open, protected and visible to all. Given
that the reason for its eventual burial was officially that it was being
vandalised (which was true, but no-one wanted to pay to protect it), it will
be important for us to find ways to protect it. Much of the infrastructure
is in place, including the presence of a ranger on the dunes. We are now, I
am happy to report, well on the way, and plans are proceeding steadily. Dave
Watkins has now finalised the hydro-geological report which you have read
about in these newsletters for the last few years, and, as I have previously
described, it is as certain as it can be that the drainage of the Oratory
will not affect the welfare of the shoredock, which is a rare plant adjacent
(but on the other side of the large dune with the cross on the top) to the
Oratory.
The next
step will therefore be to determine how best to ensure the Oratory is
drained: this is complicated by the fact that no-one knows exactly what the
level of the floor of the Oratory is. So this is the sort of investigative
work that needs to be done for the rest of this year in order to obtain the
various statutory permissions to dig in what seems to be one of the most
sensitive pieces of land in Europe! We will also have to work out how to
present and preserve the building, but this will depend on what we find
during the investigation period. I set out these points because of the
natural concern that some people will have that uncovering the Oratory will
once more render it vulnerable. If that were to be the case, we would not
get permission to uncover it, and nor would we want to. So over the next
year we will be investigating the possibilities and getting feedback on
proposals put forward.
Perran
Round
We have also had good news about the
Round, which you will read in the press. Nigel Holman and his family have
generously agreed to donate the Round to Perranzabuloe Parish Council. We
have always had difficulty in raising money for its maintenance and
insurance because it was privately owned. We will now be working in
partnership with the Council, as well as with English Heritage who have
provided much of the funding over the last few years, and hope to see
further development and use of the site. Note in your diaries that the
Miracle Theatre plan a performance there again this year on Friday August 1st.
If you get a chance to visit the Round, you will see that we have cleared
much of the ditch on the outside – we have had parties of volunteers on the
job hacking away at the brush. It is looking good!
Perran
Penrose
Chairman
