According to tradition the Saxon King Athelstan rested the night in the cell attached to the small Oratory of St.Buryan, (of which nothing now remains) the night before he sailed to conquer the Isles of Scilly. The next morning he made his communion and vowed that if he were successful he would found and endow a church.
931-On the site of the Oratory was built the church of King Athelstan, and experts express the opinion that the building on the north side of the Chancel is the only remaining piece of this work. It seems quite a small building, the west wall being just east of the present screen.
932-October 6th- The expedition having been successful and by a charter signed this date by the king and witnessed by three Archbishops, Bishop Donan of St. Germans and many other court officials "in villa que dicitur Kyngestone" the king gave lands to the parish "ea videlicet condicione ut libera sit illa prefata terra ab omni mundiali censu nisi oracione quam Clerici michi promiserunt"(from a copy of the charter made in 1238 and now in the Exeter Episc: Registry.) The words "ab omni mindiali censu" (free from all temporal taxation) were a cause of a law suit between the crown and Bishops of Exeter at a later date.
1212-Walter De Gray Dean of St Buryan appointed by King John. (This could easily be the same Walter De Gray who was to become Archbishop of York in 1215.)
1238-August 26th The larger 13th century church was consecrated by Bishop Briwire.
Note.
The only tombstone of an early date, which now lies out of place by the north west tower. There is no date on the stone, but the cross and the inscription, which is in Norman French, and are of the 13th century style. The inscription translates as follows:
Clarice, the wife of Geoffry de Bolleit, lies here. GOD of her soul have mercy; who pray for her soul shall have 10days pardon.
1300-The Dean who did the most harm to the parish was William De Hamaldone, appointed by King Edward I. He was an important officer of State, Chancellor and Dean of York with livings "Sans nombre" at his suggestion the Crown began to claim the Deanery as a Royal Peculiar, Donative and Sinecure, exempt from all Episcopal and Archidiaconal jurisdiction.
1301-The Bishops contested the claim the St Buryan was a Royal Peculiar in the courts, but the case was given in favour of the Crown and the following mandate was issued to the Bishop:
To Thomas, Bishop of Exeter and his official.
Inhibition of his doing anything that may in any wise prejudice the King or his Chapel of St.Buryan in Cornwall, as the Church of St. Buryan ought to be the Kings free Chapel and has been the free Chapel of his ancestors and progenitors, Kings of England, from old time, and ought to be wholly exempt, with the Prebends annexed to it, from ordinary jurisdiction and the Chapel, has now newly reverted to the Crown as to its founder. the Bishop is ordered to conduct himself so in the premises that the King may not have to apply another remedy.
The claim that the Parish was free from Episcopal jurisdiction "from old time", was quite false, as up to and including Hameldone the dean had always been appointed by the Earl of Cornwall or the King, as Duke of Cornwall, instituted by the Bishop of Exeter, and inducted by the Archdeacon of Cornwall.
1303-Mathew De Medunta, appointed Dean March 10th a Frenchman belonging to the houshold of Queen Margaret.
1318-John De Maunte appointed Dean on May2nd, at the request of Queen Isabella of France, also a Frenchman, are remarkable, because, though Frenchmen and constantly abroad on Royal business, they are the only two Deans who are definitely known to have visited and lived in their Deanery.
1328-Trouble broke out between the Dean, John de Maunte a thoroughly unscrupulous Frenchman, and one of the prebends Richard Beaupre. Both Dean and prebend were arrested by the Sheriff as the result of a free fight when the prebend broke the Church door to take away his tithe, which was being withheld by the Dean. November 4th, Bishop Grandisson excommunicated all who had laid violent hands on Richard Beaupre, and interdicted the Church and the Churchyard, polluted by the shedding of blood .
Note.
For the next few years the King was issuing writs to the Bishop and the Bishop was replying that he was afraid to meddle with St Buryan, "for no one belonging to him dares go there for fear of death and mutilation" (Exeter Episc. Regs).
1336-The Bishop after the death of Beaupre, visited the parish and received back the rebellious parishioners into the bosom of the Church, but de Maunte did not make his submission till a month later, which was brought about by the Bishop impounding the fruits of his Deanery. This was the Bishops dying effort for the Crown won its way in 1351.
1351- A decision was given in favour of the Crown regarding the words in the charter, quite against evidence. the court ruled that by the words the Parish was a Royal Peculiar, Sinecure and Donative and that the Bishop and Archdeacon had no jurisdiction with disastrous results for the spiritual welfare of the people.
Note.
Between 1301 and 1850 only two Deans seem to have resided in their cure, and both were Frenchmen, and then only for a few months. The Bishops refused to visit the parish, as they had no jurisdiction, and matters went from bad to worse, till the Black Prince (patron of the living) wrote to the Bishop and asked him to go to St.Buryan. "doner az Clercks de la Jurisdiccion susdite. Odred de Seinte Englise ne lesz enfaunz confirmer, ne crisme y envoier".
1473-The church building was in a deplorable state, owing to the none-residence of the Dean and the Prebends, that King Edward IV appointed a commission of Clergy to report on the state of the Deanery in general. The Church was found to be so ruinous that the only thing was to pull it down and re-build.
Note.
The Tower was erected before the old church was pulled down and is of 14th century work; the present church was built up to the Tower in the late 15th and 16th century and it is easy to notice that the tower and nave are not in a straight line. The tower is 92 feet high and is constructed of wrought granite with a simple bold arch. In the middle of the 18th century the whole of the north wall of the church had to be pulled down and re-built, and at the same time the small lean-to chapel on the north wall of the chancel was pulled down and the arch built up.
The Font is the work of the 15th century and has on the bowl three angels supporting shields; on the fourth shield is a plain Latin cross on two steps. On the opposite side there is a small Maltese Cross between two angels.
1663-The Deanery was annexed to the Bishopric of Exeter which had been very badly impoverished by the Civil War. Seth Ward became Dean.
1667-Anthony Sparrow became Dean
1671-On the west wall of the church near the Font is a very fine example of a 17th century slate tomb.
It is erected to the memory of Arther Levelis who was the last of a long lone to hold the estate of Trewoof in this parish . The inscription reads:
This worthy family hath flourished here
Since Williams conquest full six hundred year
And longer much might, but that the blest
Must spend their sevenths in a blessed rest
But yet this gentleman last of his name
Hath by his virtues eternized the same
Much more children could or bookes of love
Records it here in hearts, in life above.
1676-Thomas Lamplugh became Dean.
1668-Jonathan Trelawny became Dean afterwards Bishop of Rochester and one of the seven Bishops imprisoned in the Tower of London and subject of the great Cornish song "And shall Trelawny die"
1814-The church was restored or destroyed depending on how you look at it. All the old benches, with their carved ends, were cut down much of the woodwork was taken by farmers for their out-buildings; only two bench ends were saved, and are now made up.into a Litany desk. At the same time most of the screen was cut down., a great part of it was thrown in the tower and in 1910 re-erected in the nave. Guessing by the two coats of arms carved on it could of been a gift of the Levelis of Trewoof and the Godolphins of Boskenna. On the upper part of the screen is carved a curious hunting scene, which is symbolic of the warfare between good and evil.
1817-The last Dean and none-resident Incumbent was Fitzeroy Henry Richard Stanhope. He was an army officer who lost his leg in the battle of Waterloo and was pensioned off by the Duke of York with the Deanery of St Buryan. It was with the greatest difficulty that at Bishop could be found, who was willing to ordain him, so that he could enjoy the fruits of his pension- the fruits of the Deanery. After a long time the Bishop of Cork was in London and was persuaded by the Duke to ordain Stanhope. he took the income from the Deanery till his death in 1864.
1850-An act of Parliament restored jurisdiction over the Parish to the Bishop, the Crown resigning all the peculiar rights: it abolished the Deanery and set up St.Levan and St. Sennen as separate parishes with their own resident priests, in place of the Prebends of St Buryan, who were supposed to be in charge of them.
Note.
The only relic of the Deanery days are four prebendal stalls inside the screen and the patronage of the three parishes, which remains in the hands of the Duke of Cornwall, to whom it was granted by charter, dated March 17th 11 Edward III, "to remain to the same Duchy for ever so that from the same Duchy they may at no time be separated" (Caption of Seisin.).
1851-The singers' gallery at the west end was cut down; it was of the same date and workmanship as the screen, and not a stick of it is to be found.
1956-The Lady Chapel was erected and is a gift of John Franklin Tonkin, in memory of his uncle, Robert Edmund Tonkin, of Treverven. The oak panelling was formally in the manor at Boshan near Helford, and was erected in the church by local craftsmen.