Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to consider the development of the early Christian landscape in Cornwall, the long, tapering peninsula at the far south-western tip of Britain (see Fig. 11.1). As argued below, less is known for certain of Cornwall’s early Christianity than has sometimes been claimed. For example, on the Cornish mainland there is hardly any archaeological evidence for categories of early Christian site known to exist in neighbouring regions such as Ireland or Gaul (e.g. hermitages; White Marshall and Walsh 1998; Biarne 1997), and possible differences between ecclesiastical sites are commonly obscured by the lack of evidence. It is therefore hardly possible to paint a definitive picture of early Christianity in the region. What this chapter will attempt is to put the early Cornish church in context by examining some of the relationships between ecclesiastical sites and other elements of the landscape. It will also suggest that the emergence of the Christian landscape detectable by the eleventh century was neither a short nor a simple process, but was instead the result of actions over an extended period. The paper highlights the importance of the relationship between the ‘sacred’ and the ‘secular’ in early medieval society, and stresses that neither element can be properly understood without reference to the other (Markus 1997: 85–7; Fletcher 1997: 160–92; Graham 1998: 133).

The *lann Model of Early Ecclesiastical Enclosures: a Cautious Approach

The early ecclesiastical sites of western Britain have for the last 30 years been considered in relation to the model of cemetery development proposed by Prof. Charles Thomas (1971: 49–51). With Christianity acting as the catalyst, unenclosed burial sites (commonly with long-cists or dug graves) were changed into cemeteries defined by a small curvilinear enclosure (sometimes known as a *lann; Thomas’ ‘undeveloped’ enclosed cemeteries), and in time became ‘developed’ enclosed cemeteries with the addition of a cross, a chapel, and then a parish church (Thomas 1971: 49–51). Some scholars have suggested that this process took place at a relatively early date in Cornwall. For example, various churchyards on the north coast have been regarded as Christian settlements founded by voyagers from across the seas to the north (see, for example, Preston-Jones 1992: 122; see also Pearce 1982; Brook 1992).