St Just Church, St Just-in-Penwith

A remote headland oratory and an intriguing ancient memorial stone mark the end or indeed the beginning of the road for Cornish pilgrimage, close to Land’s End

Highlights

• Gravestone of St Selevan, oldest saint’s shrine marker
• Possible site of St Just’s grave
• Ruined oratory chapel west of town

The Selus Stone is one of the oldest saint’s gravestones in the country. It could even be the oldest intact shrine monument we have to any of our saints, as early as the 5th century. St Selus is thought to be St Selevan, and was the brother of St Just. He has a ruined well chapel and a parish church in his name at Porth Chapel, on the coast 6 miles to the south (see page 198 for more about this saint’s life).

The memorial stone stands on a plinth in the north aisle. It was found built into the east wall of the building during the 19th century and removed. The inscription reads ‘Selus ic iacet’, or ‘Selus lies here’.

Of particular note is the Chi-Rho monogram on another face of the slab. This symbol for Christ was commonly used during the Roman era but fell into disuse soon after. It suggests a very early date for the engraving, perhaps even 450, a few decades after the Romans left Britain in 410. There are no surviving memorials to saints before this date. Indeed it is only perhaps 140 years after the death of Britain’s first known martyr, St Alban. It is one of very few relics from a period best described as Romano-Celtic.

It hardly needs adding that we know very little about St Just himself, an obscure Cornish missionary. A 12th-century document mentions in passing that he was a martyr. He is also commemorated at St Just in Roseland, 30 miles to the west. William of Worcester says his grave was still in this church when he wrote his history in 1478.

Later historians reckon that St Just and St Selevan were sons or grandsons of King Gerient I, who ruled Cornwall and much of the West Country in the 5th century. Gilbert Doble’s book The Saints of Cornwall has faithfully pieced together the fragments of evidence.

The church itself is 14th century. Nothing survives to indicate where St Just’s shrine might have been, but a likely place would be beside or in front of the high altar. There are two medieval wall paintings in the church, both heavily restored. One shows St George slaying the dragon, and the other is a ‘Christ of the Trades’ or ‘Sabbath breakers’ image, similar to that at Breage.

While in St Just

By the headland of Cape Cornwall, a mile out of town, stands a ruined chapel overlooking the sea. It is an atmospheric location for a remote Christian oratory or hermitage. It was once dedicated to St Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. When I visited, the National Trust guide described it as the ruin of a farm shed, but conceded that it might incorporate stone from an early Christian building here. And indeed it does, since there is an ancient Celtic cross positioned at one end of the building. The cross was found nearby and cemented on to the gable wall. The Historic England listing (search for ‘cape cornwall’ on www.historicengland.org.uk) has no hesitation in identifying this building as an early chapel. If it were used by the early Christian community of St Just and St Selevan, this site would be one of Britain’s oldest Christian buildings.

Directions

St Just-in-Penwith Parish Church, St Just-in-Penwith TR19 7EZ

www.penwithpilgrims.com

W3W: pull.types.suits

GPS: 50.1246N 5.6789W church

W3W: hiked.task.voter

GPS: 50.1276N 5.7058W oratory

St Just’s Church is in the centre of town. It is open during the day.

To reach St Helen’s ruined oratory chapel from St Just, head west along Cape Cornwall Road, following signs to Cape Cornwall. It is a mile out of town; keep going along the road, past the golf-course car park, to the very end where there is a National Trust car park. You can see the chapel from the car park 100m downhill, in the middle of a field on the saddle of land leading to the cape itself. There is a gate in the wall near the NT car park, beyond the toilet block, from where the SW Coast Path crosses the grass to it.