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Stonehenge Sacred Symbolism - Ancient Beliefs in Britain and Northern Europe

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Cape Cornwall - Ancient Cross in England in Cornwall

Submitted by Thorgrim on Wednesday, 24 November 2004  Page Views: 27285

Early MedievalSite Name: Cape Cornwall Alternative Name: St Helen's Oratory
Country: England County: Cornwall Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Penzance  Nearest Village: St Just
Map Ref: SW352319
Latitude: 50.127951N  Longitude: 5.7064W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 3

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lichen visited on 2nd Sep 2015 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 5

jeffrep visited on 16th May 2011 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 4

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Ogham Bladup AngieLake cazzyjane have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3.33 Ambience: 4.67 Access: 4.33

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by AngieLake : (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Cross in Cornwall

Superb location! Ruined oratory with ancient cross on gable end.
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Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by AngieLake : The ancient cross that, in later years, was stuck on the early Christian chapel known as St Helen's Oratory at Cape Cornwall. (4 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by cazzyjane : St Helen's Oratory and old cross. Has been 'restored' since Thorgrims photo of 2004. (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by cazzyjane : St Helen's Oratory, Cape Cornwall. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by ogham : Magnificent location looking out onto the Atlantic Ocean. (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by jeffrep : St. Helen's Oratory at Cape Cornwall, Cornwall, England. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Bladup : Cape Cornwall and the sun though the rain from cairn circle at sw356325.

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Bladup : Cape Cornwall at Sunset.

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Thorgrim : Chapel and early cross (1 comment)

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Bladup : Cape Cornwall

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by cazzyjane : The old cross on St Helen's Oratory. Another small stone cross with markings in use in the 4th or 5th centuries was also found at this site and was taken to St Just Church and thrown down the vicarage well. It has never been recovered.

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Antonine : 2018

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Antonine

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Antonine

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by hoya105 : Wall of oratory.

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Bladup : Cape Cornwall with the summer solstice sunrise light shining onto it

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Horatio : St Helen's Oratory with the old cross visible on the gable end, this view is taken looking back from the start of the head of the cape. The NT car park is on the right with the golf course behind this.

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Horatio : The Old cross atop of St Helen's Oratary on a stormy and very rainy day

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Bladup : A font found next to the oratory.

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Bladup : Cape Cornwall.

Cape Cornwall
Cape Cornwall submitted by Bladup

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 690m NNE 31° Kenidjack Cairn Circle* Ring Cairn (SW35593247)
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 2.1km E 92° Venton East* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SW3732931708)
 2.2km SSE 161° Carn Polpry Ring cairns* Ring Cairn (SW35792983)
 2.3km SSE 162° Boscregan Cairns* Cairn (SW358297)
 2.6km ENE 69° Higher Botallack Enclosure* Ancient Village or Settlement (SW377327)
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 2.8km E 82° Tregeseal Barrow* Chambered Tomb (SW38043214)
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Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall and Scilly, Craig Weatherhill

Cornovia: Ancient Sites of Cornwall and Scilly, Craig Weatherhill

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"Cape Cornwall" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Cape Cornwall by lucasn on Monday, 15 October 2018
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Re: Cape Cornwall by Anonymous on Sunday, 05 December 2010
From Angie Lake.
To quote the website on Cape Cornwall (http://www.st.just.online.freeuk.com/cape2.htm) :
"On the eastern side of the Cape is the tiny chapel known as St Helen's Oratory. Unfortunately very little now remains of this small early Christian chapel. The field in which it lies is called Park an Chapel (field of the chapel). In the Cornish hedge to the east an urn was found in a cist. In the mid-19th century a cross with a chi-rho monogram was discovered in a leat by John Buller, then vicar of St Just. This, among many other things, was allegedly thrown down one of the wells of the vicarage by his successor. Search of these in recent years by miners from Geevor has not found anything."

On http://www.trencom.freeserve.co.uk/capecorn.htm : "St Helen's Oratory stands in a field on the cape. The cross cemented on to it, is not, apparently, the original, but is one which was found lying nearby. Evidence suggests that the site dates back to the Romano-Christian period, maybe around 4 AD, but it is possible that it was also once an Iron Age settlement."

Quote from "Ancient Sites in West Penwith" by Cheryl Straffon: In the Vicarage garden (3523 3185) is another round-head cross, and in the Vicarage well was thrown the original cross from St Helen's Oratory (3515 3188) at Cape Cornwall, which also bore the Chi-Rho symbol, but although the well was cleared a few years ago, no cross was found. However, another old cross was found in the field where the chapel stands, and, despite an attempt to claim it by the then Vicar of St Just, has now been cemented on to the Chapel itself. It stands there today, looking over the wild Atlantic waves from whence came the old Irish Celtic saints who perhaps erected or adapted many of these crosses over 1000 years ago."

The chimney stack on the top is quoted by st.just.online: "The stack on top of the Cape is a prominent landmark and listed Grade II*. This is usually described as dating to the 1850s, however there appears to be no documentary evidence to support this date and it was most likely built in 1865.........

On the south side of the Cape is Priest Cove, Por' East, abbreviated from Porth East (the Old Cornish pronunciation of 'Just'): the cove of St Just. This is a popular site in the summer, despite the lack of beach. A number of small fishing boats are usually drawn up on the concrete slipway. A small bathing pool allows children to swim in comparative safety.

This cove is interesting for the geologist. Cape Cornwall is made of dark altered Devonian sediments of marine origin, while on the south side the cliffs are granite. The contact is a mineralised fault worked on the south as Saveall's Lode and on the north as Cape Cornwall Lode. The deepest workings are 155 fathoms (279m) below the slipway. Small granite dykes (and one large one) cut the folded sedimentary rocks. Around the cove, above the bedrock, can be seen a thin raised beach overlain by periglacial deposits many metres thick.

To the south three adits can be seen in the cliffs. These are dangerous places and should not be entered without proper equipment and a local guide. Immediately south of the adit on the granite contact is a hole hewn out of the granite, and which formerly held a waterwheel. This was used in the early 1800s to help pump what was then called Little Bounds Mine. Between the adit and the high water mark a slight stream of water marks the spot where the miners broke into the cove from below. The hole was filled with timbers which were caulked with tar like a ship's bottom to make them water-proof."

When my friend and I stayed at Cape Cottage in early March 2004, the front cottage windows overlooked the cove, and the rear windows, the chapel. There was a law against taking away any of the unique large round 'pebbles' from the beach: in differing shades of grey, they were rather lovely.
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Re: Cape Cornwall by Anonymous on Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Hi looking for information about st helen, we had a beautiful day there at Beltain and would like to know more
[email protected]
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Re: Cape Cornwall by Melinki on Saturday, 01 October 2005
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The cross belongs to the old chapel. Dug up. What's there today is the remains of an old barn. Read that on national trust sign.
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