There is no doubt that elements of the earlist Celtic foundation at Phillack, to be associated with St Piala in the early 6th century, survived until Norman times and can be safely discussed.
The Lan
Lan being the original Celtic monastic site.
Expansion of the graveyard in 1826 completely altered the outline of this, but the original entrance was apparently on the road running south of the churchyard, and the drop in level from the interior of the churchyard down to the roadway itself is itself significant. The original ditch of the Lan, the quarry for the enclosing bank, usually became a lane or roadway, and this can also be seen at St Buryan. The entrance prior to 1826 is now marked by two granite columns built into the outer wall (itself composed of blocks of slag from the Hayle smelting works) opposite the gate into the Rectory. On the east and north, the prominent change in level within the graveyard marks the line of the wall shown in the 1855 drawing which forms the cover illustration, and this wall (now removed, but built about 1826-30) may indicate the line of the Lan in this area. It will be noticed that the corner in the north-west is curved, not square.
Ancient Slate Slab
Of early burials a large slate slab, almost certainly from an early Christian grave where it would be used as a tomb-cover, can be seen lying on the ground at the foot of the north-west corner of the tower of the church.
The Inscribed Stone
This simple granite pillar now stands against the wall of the "old vestry", at the top of the steps by the south-eastern gate into the churchyard. The inscription reads CLOTUUALI MONRATTI (The Grave of ) C the son of M. The lettering shows that it was done some time after about 600 AD It represents a common form of memorial, of some noted person in the vicinity a century or so after Piala’s time, and must of stood upright by his grave within the Lan. It was found at the time of the 1856 restoration, buried below the wall of the old chancel, and it was doubtless used as a foundation stone by the Norman builders.
By the inscribed stone can be seen a crude and frankly quite updateable cross found at Bodriggy, a short distance away.
The Chi-Rho stone
High up in the gable over the present south porch, directly over the centre of the doorway arch, can be seen a small rectangular piece of granite. On it is a raised circular boss bearing an incised design, the letters P and X combined. These are the Greek capital letters for the sounds of "ch" and "r", the first two letters of CHRISTOS, christ, the Chi Rho, as it is called, enters into Christian symbolism in the early 4th century A.D. This symbol is predominantly Gaulish and Mediterranean, and comparatively rare in Britain. The form found here at Phillack is that used almost exclusively by Christians in the latter days of Roman Britain, and does not go later than the early 5th century say 450 A.D. On the other hand , the period of Irish contact which produced such missionary saints as Piala and Gwinear cannot , on archaeological grounds, be dated earlier than say 525 to 550 A.D, a later form of Chi-Rho (which appears three times in Cornwall) was in use in the church in Celtic lands.
Whence this fragment derives, what it formed part of , or indeed when and where it was found, is wholly unknown. It was presumably recovered somewhere on the site in 1856. Like the Carnsew stone, and the legend of St Anta, it seems to point to the presence of a Christian community in the Hale area as early as 350 to 450 A.D. We can only assume that, as it would have had more meaning to a Celtic mission than a Norman builder, it was somehow incorporated in the Celtic church on this site.
Scan Picture
The lych-gate crucifixion.
Built into the inner north face of the present lych-gate is a slab of rough-faced granite, 2ft 3in high and 2 ft wide. Unfortunately there is no indication of its thickness. The incised ornament, visible only by flashlight, or the light of a torch held obliquely at night, shows at once that this is one of the most interesting carved stones of the period in Cornwall. Although its existence has been known for some years, the significant details were discovered in 1960 during photographic work. The slab portrays the Crucifixion. Christ is shown in the position associated with the Tau cross (the cross itself is lacking) and apparently in a tunic, to judge from the bands at the wrists and low stating point of the division between the legs. The head is proportionately enlarged and may represent either an intended nimbus (a conventional halo) or lack of skill. Above each arm, a simple equal-armed cross fills each corner of the field, and in the four angles of the cross arms there are small pecked dimples. The surround, is composed of two square headed borders expanded at the base. No detail of Christ’s face, nor of any figures which might be expected below the arms, has survived, and these areas are badly weathered.
This Crucifixion is seen as a mixture of Irish and welsh influences on the Christian Art of Cornwall in the 7th to 9th centuries.
So on this site probably there was an original wooden oratory, followed around 700 A.D with a stone chapel. Its is more than likely this was situated under the nave and chancel of the later Norman Church.
930 A.D- after about this time Cornwall was finally dominated by the English kingdom. But for nearly two centuries before this time , political and religious penetration from such centres as Sherborne, and the military conquest of eastern Cornwall, meant that the peculiar nature of the church in Celtic lands had been virtually replaced by the English system which, with modifications, survives in the established church of today.
The large churchyard cross.
The tall granite wheel-headed cross which now stands outside the south porch is dated at about 1000 A.D. That it was an "entrance cross" is shown by two things. Firstly, until 1856 it stood some 10 feet east of its present position, just inside and to the east of the old entrance into the churchyard (more or less due south of the south transept). Secondly J T Blights 19th century drawing of its position shows it standing buried almost up the head. This implies that it was still in its original pre-Norman position, and that centuries of burial within the Lan had raised the ground surface until almost all the cross was covered.
The "coped" stone
In the angle now formed by the tower and the south porch, just by the steps down into the heating-chamber, is part of a stone slab whose upper surface is ridged like a roof with a cable ornament just visible along the ridge. It is 1ft 4ins wide 10 ½ ins. High from base to ridge., and now only about 4ft long (its original length must have been between 5 and 6 ft).
There is a view that it is a solid , coped , tomb-cover, the lid to a stone sarcophagus, linked with a series common not only to the Celtic West but to the pre-Viking north of England.
The Norman Church
It is all to evident that a cruciform Norman church proceeded the present structure.
The Altar Slab
Carefully set into the table of the present altar is a small granite slab, 2ft 10in. by 1ft. 8in, and 4in thick, with a chamfered front edge. Its upper surface bears, inside an incised border, the five crosses cut by the stonemasons to mark where the bishop, consecrating this altar, drew such crosses with his finger dipped in sacramental oil. The underside of this little mensa as it is called, is left plain, and the slab would originally have stood on a pillar or some composite structure. It was found together with the glass phial mentioned below, built into the base of the wall of the 15th century chancel.
The glass phial.
A most unusual find, it was in some sort of cavity, next to the Norman altar slab, in the base of the north wall of the pre-1856 chancel. It was replaced in the new chancel wall at the same spot, without (as far as is known) any drawing being made of it. Tradition continues to assert that it contained the blood of St Piala. Since it was found with the Norman Altar, it was most probably removed at the same time from the Norman church (perhaps after 1400A.D) and from what we know of such practices, may well have been kept in a cavity below the altar slab as a relic.
15th century
During this century the tower was added, possibly encroaching on the western end of the Norman work.
The northern aisle was built replacing the older north transept, and the doorway, formerly at the western end, was shifted to the position in which it stands today. The Norman altar was replaced by a larger construction.
Fragments of the rood screen and carved benches have been incorporated into the modern pulpit.
1856-1857-The parish population rose from 1775 people in 1801 to 4854 in1871 largely due to the growth of Hayle as an industrial centre.The church was nearly completely re-built to increase the accomadation available inside the church. Praticaly everything was scrapped save for the tower.
It was at this time many of the treasures mentioned here were exposed.