§ LORD PORTMAN, as one of the Council of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, rose to present a Bill to divide the Deanery of St. Burian, and said: The Deanery of St. Burian appears, from ancient historical accounts, to have been founded by King Athelstan, who "having set his heart upon the conquest of Cornwall, thought it could not be completed unless he reduced the Scilly Islands, which he had a view of from the western promontories; he vows, therefore, a religious house in case he returned with victory; and being returned according to his wish, he acted according to his vow. He built a collegiate church in sight of those islands, and dedicated it to St. Burian, a holy woman of Ireland (who had at that time an oratory, and was buried here), placing a dean and three prebends in the college." The deanery is supposed to be exempt from all ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and that no appeal lies from the registry court, but immediately to the King in Council. And, as stated in a note in Oliver's Monasticon Diocesis Exoniensis, "It has lost all its lands. The prebends are merged in the deanery, and the deanery itself is in Substance only a rectory, including three parishes served by curates appointed by the dean." The three parishes are those of St. Burian, St. Levan, and Sennen. From the remote and exposed situation of the deanery in the most western promontory of England, the want of resident landowners, with the appropriation hitherto of the tithes by a non-resident dignitary of the Church, a state of things has arisen which cannot but be lamented, and affords strong grounds for the changes that are now proposed. The dilapidated and mutilated condition of St. Burian and the other two churches is a subject of great regret. It is melancholy to see the havoc that has been made of the rich carvings, gildings, and ornamental decorations. Sufficient, however, remains to give an idea of their pristine beauty, and to excite an anxious desire 367 for their restoration. The Honourable and Reverend Fitzroy Henry Richard Stanhope, the present incumbent, who is aged about sixty-three years, became dean of St. Burian upon the death of Dr. Jenkin in 1817. Mr. Stanhope has never resided in the deanery, nor is there now any residence or glebe lands either in St. Burian or in the parishes of Sennen or St. Levan. The deanery of St. Burian, consisting of the three parishes of St. Burian, St. Levan, and Sennen, forming together the western extremity of the county of Cornwall, and for the most part bounded by the sea, is a donative and peculiar, of which the patronage belongs to His Royal Highness. The population, extent, and ecclesiastical revenues of these three parishes, are as follows:—
The deanery has its own spiritual court, and is, in fact, an extra-diocesan benefice, governed in ancient times by a dean and chapter. All the glebe and other church lands having been alienated long ago, and there being no parsonage-house in any part of the deanery, the deans, for 300 years and upwards, have been non-resident, while their chapter has become wholly extinct, and the spacious collegiate church of St. Burian, formerly highly ornamented, has been materially defaced and injured for want of proper ecclesiastical superintendence. Since the deanery lost its resident beneficed clergy, the ecclesiastical duties of the three parishes have been performed by two curates, of whom one officiates in St. Burian, the other having the conjoint charge of St. Levan and Sennen. The general objects contemplated by the Bill are, the abolition of the deanery upon the next avoidance, and the establishment of a distinct rectory in each of the three parishes of St. Burian, St. Sennen, and St. Levan; the appropriation to each rectory of the ecclesiastical revenues arising within the parish, and making the incumbent of each subject to the ordinary jurisdiction of the Bishop of Exeter, and making provision for the acquisition of parsonage-houses and glebes; also the abolition, on the next avoidance of the deanery, or sooner, with the consent of the Duchy of Cornwall, the Bishop of Exeter, 368 and the present Dean of the present Registry Court, and the peculiar and exempt jurisdiction of the Dean, and placing the whole under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Archdeacon of Cornwall and the Bishop of Exeter, as in other parishes in the county of Cornwall; and the transfer of all registers, records, wills, &c. to the Registry of the Archdeaconry of Cornwall. If the ecclesiastical revenue arising within each parish is given to the incumbent, three livings, with what would appear to be sufficient endowments, may be provided. In this case, the incnmbent of St. Burian would have an income of 570l., with a district of 6,964 acres, containing a population of 1,911; the incumbent of St. Levan, an income of 250l., a district of 2,230 acres, and a population of 531; and of Sennen, an income of 230l., a district of 2,328 acres, and a population of 659. The income of each of the incumbents would, of course, for a time be diminished in the event of a loan being obtained from Queen Anne's Bounty Fund towards the erection of parsonage-houses. It is considered probable that there would not be material difficulty in providing sites for suitable residences, and that the assistance which could be obtained from Queen Anne's Bounty would be sufficient for the erection of the buildings. The advantage likely to be derived from the proposed changes generally can scarcely he over-estimated, calculated, as they would be, most materially to improve the condition of the population, and at the same time remove a considerable public scandal, detrimental to the Church not only in the deanery itself, but in the surrounding vicinity. The abolition of the registry court would relieve the inhabitants from what is considered a great grievance and abuse.
Population. Commutation Tithe Rents. Acreage. St. Burian 1,911 £570 6,964 St. Levan 531 250 2,230 Sennan 659 230 2,328
§ Bill read 1a; and referred to the Standing Order Committee, on Thursday, 6th June.