Page:Cornwall (Salmon).djvu/253

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LITTLE PETHERICK bined mercy of the sands and of pilfering tourists, and only in very recent days has a protecting rail been placed around them. The church is about 29 ft. in length, 16 ft. in breadth, with arched doorway and one little window, walled up, over the altar. It is ex- actly similar to many oratories of the same or earlier date in Ireland. The masonry is of the roughest, its stones seeming to have been thrown together without care or selection ; while the floor is a species of concrete, china-clay being used instead of lime. Several skeletons were found in the church itself, one of which, of a man about 7 ft. 6 in. in height, is sometimes supposed to be Piran himself; while without, both here and around the second church, are to be found countless human remains. The spot was clearly much resorted to as a burial- ground of special sanctity. The church is not easy to find among the environing sand-heaps, and walking on these dunes is most wearying. About I J miles N. of the present Perranza- buloe village is the Perran Round, a remarkable amphitheatre or plan-an-guare, 1 30 ft. in dia- meter, with traces of seven tiers of seats. In comparatively modern times this was used for the performance of miracle-plays ; in earlier days it may have had other uses, perhaps for sports or as a place of public assembly. It is considered one of the most remarkable earth- works of its kind in the kingdom. Little Petherick (3 m. S. of Padstow), some- times called St. Petrock Minor, has a charm-