Pridden, near St Buryan,
Penwith
The
farm has been there at least since the first documentary evidence of 1323 and
was written as Penren, later in 1363 and 1427 as Penryn, in 1696 it became
Prynne and then in 1745 with Tithe Apportionment records showing the present
Pridden. The name originates in the Cornish Pen Ryn, or head of a slope -
exactly as Penryn, near Falmouth.
The
church of St Buryan was dedicated to St Buriana 26th August 1238.
Pridden
Stone SW41652661
On
the site is a standing stone of some note if not merit ( as it does not include
in any alignments or ley lines ). Dr William Copeland Borlase, in his Naenia
Cornubiae, reports on the first stone he ( or any one else for that matter )
examined for the purpose of discovering the true meaning of the stones. He was
attempting to "ascertain if any were indeed sepulchral". .. "The
first to be explored was one situated in a valley close to the farm house of
Pridden or Penryn, in the parish of Buryan, the property of D.P.LeGrice Esq.,
of Trereife, who kindly gave permission for the investigation to take place.
This monolith stands 11 feet 6 inches above the level of the ground, and it is
only six inches below the surface. The
workman began by removing a hedge which abutted on the southern side, and which
it was considered might be the remains of a cairn heaped up against the stone.
The impression was confirmed, when, on reaching the natural level of the
ground, and removing a thin stone set on its edge against the foot of the
pillar, a deposit of splinters of human bone was exposed to view. It was
covered by a flat stone only one foot in diameter. Charred wood and a layer of
burnt brownish mould accompanied the bones, which, in all, would scarcely have
filled a pint and a half measure. No KistVaen had been formed, but the deposit
had been placed on the side of a shallow pit, dug to receive the lower end of
the Long Stone, from which it was distant about one foot. The covering stone
rested partly on the natural soil, and partly on two small stones which
prevented it from crushing the bones. In this instance, the bones were more
completely splintered than in any subsequent discovery, the average length of
them being less than an inch, and the amount of burning received must
consequently have been considerable. This discovery was made on the 14th
February 1871." And this is noted
on the OS maps as such. The stone at Trelew also had a similar burial at its
foot. The Pridden stone is now leaning badly, as a result of Dr Borlase's
excavations.
Tenants
of Pridden in 1881, were Samuel and Margaret Harvey and their three children (
together with Miss E.L.Nicholls ). The farm was owned by the Nicholls family
and then The LeGrice family. The records show this ownership up to around 1870.
The LeGrice Rental of Lands, tithes &c MSS 1793-1870 lists Pridden as
tenanted by a Mr Gilbert and the rate of £54 per annum is quoted.
The
house Pendrea on the opposite side of St Buryan,
was
the origination of the Penders of the Isles of Scilly.