T ODAY the tiny 9th century oratory of St Piran lies buried deep in the dunes above Perranporth. But not for long. The Historic Environment Service of Cornwall Council and the St Piran Trust will work with English Heritage and Natural England to uncover the historic church which has been overwhelmed by shifting sands for the best part of a thousand years.

Until an eagerly-awaited exploratory dig took in January, no-one had seen the church since 1980 when it was reburied to protect it from wind, weather and vandalism. No-one was quite sure how deep it lay inside the man-made mound and this information was vital for planning the dig.

Archaeologists from the Historic Environment Service had permission to dig several trenches. The main trench was cut into the mound itself in order to find the floor level and, with luck, to locate the door of the oratory. Hopes were high but the task was hardly straightforward.

In 1910 a hideous concrete shell was erected over the church to protect it, but flooding and other problems persisted. Finally part of the shell was removed but much of it still remains, encasing the church under the oratory mound.

The main trench revealed the blocks that formed part of the buttress supporting the concrete shell at the point where they met the beam supporting the roof.

This gave James Gossip, from the Historic Environment Service, who is leading the dig, a valuable reference point.

"The main trench identified some of the remains of the concrete block shell. We can now begin to work out how much sand would need to be removed to uncover the oratory and design a detailed proposal to take the project forward," said James.

The oratory has always been subject to flooding and adequate drainage remains an ongoing problem.

The church sits on Gear Sands, a site of special scientific interest managed by Natural England and full of rare plants including some nearby shoredock. There were concerns over whether draining the oratory would kill the shoredock.

Also present at the dig was Cornwall councillor and Mebyon Kernow leader Dick Cole, who worked for the Historic Environment Service before becoming an elected member of the authority.

He said: "The planned re-excavation of St Piran's Oratory is an exciting project for Cornwall and would be a great boost to our distinct culture and identity. I look forward to progress being made in the near future."

St Piran Trust has taken regular readings of water levels across the dunes and commissioned a report which concluded that the water level in the oratory does not affect the shoredock.

The momentum created by these events has led the statutory authorities, including English Heritage and Natural England, to accept in principle that the oratory can be uncovered.

Perran Penrose, chairman of St Piran Trust, summed it all up by saying: "This is exciting news. When I saw the blocks from the top of the concrete shell emerge slowly from the sand I felt that after all this time the end is in sight.

"We hope that marchers on March 5 in 2011 will pass by the nearly completed works, though weather may mean that the full excavation cannot be started until later in the year."