History of Saint Piran

Legend has it that Saint Piran sailed to Cornwall on a millstone after being cast into the Atlantic on the orders of the Irish King who was suspicious of Piran's miraculous powers.

Piran survived the seas and landed safely on the shores of Perranporth in Cornwall, where he began to build an oratory to promote Christianity and his first disciples were said to be a badger, a fox and a bear!

Piran is perhaps most famous for his accidental discovery of tin, when a blackstone on his fireplace got so hot that a white liquid leaked out; the first tin smelting. It was this discovery that earned Piran the title Patron Saint of ‘Tinners', tin mining historically being a fundamentally important industry in Cornwall.

(Information taken from http://www.an-daras.com/cutoms/cu_stpirans_who.htm)

Pasty Facts

1.) Over 68 million pasties are made in Cornwall each year, contributing more than £150M a year to the Cornish economy

2.) Proper Cornish is part of a group of pasty manufacturers who are currently backing an application for the Cornish pasty to be awarded the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status, which protects the authenticity and quality of Cornish pasties in EU law and means that only pasties made in Cornwall will be called ‘Cornish Pasties'

3.) Reference of the Cornish pasty can be traced back to 1100's

4.) Pasty's are included in two of William Shakespeare's plays: ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor' and ‘All's Well That Ends Well'

5.) The famous sporting chant ‘Oggie, Oggie, Oggie, Oi, Oi, Oi' has its origins in the shout of the Cornish tin miners hungry for their lunchtime pasty. Pasties are still known as Oggies or tidy Oggies in Cornwall to this day

6.)Historically, the pasty was sometimes divided into two parts so as to provide both the main course and dessert