A plen-an-gwary, also known as a playing place or round, is a medieval Cornish amphitheatre. A circular outdoor space used for plays, sports, and public events, the plen-an-gwary was a Cornish variant of a construction style found across Great Britain. Formerly common across Cornwall, only two survive today: the Plen in St Just in Penwith and Saint Piran's Round near Perranporth.
Description
editThe typical plen-an-gwary was a circular construction containing a flat open performance space called the platea or place. Surrounding the centre were raised earthen banks for the audience, cut with entrances. Some plenys featured trenches and pits, apparently for characters to enter unseen.[1] The amphitheatres hosted plays as well as sports, games and other events.[2] Plays were of the "place-and-scaffold" type, with custom scaffolds erected around the centre to represent different locations visited by the characters. As such, the plen-an-gwary was a local variant of the public "round" popular throughout Britain; the rounds of East Anglia are especially similar.[3][4]
Around 90 plenys-an-gwary have been identified, but only two are extant.
Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). In design, it was
surrounded by raised earthen banks for the audience.
Modern use
editThe Cornish plen was circular outdoor spaces used for .
type of Medieval amphitheatre found in Cornwall.
Cornish Medieval amphitheatre. St Just in Penwith and St Piran's Round in St Agnes are two such examples.[5][6][7] The St Just plain-an-gwarry is a large circular space, encircled by a 2 metre high wall of stone. There are 2 entries into the space.[5]
The Long Sentry field south east of the church in St Mabyn, has been identified as the possible location of the most northerly Plain-an-gwarry.[8][9]
The theatre area could be used for local gatherings, sports events, and production of plays. Cornwall culture had a type of play called miracle plays, written in the Cornish language, that would were meant to spread Christianity. To capture the attention of the audience, "the plays were often noisy, bawdy and entertaining."[5]
The most important work of literature surviving from the Middle Cornish period is Ordinalia, a 9000-line religious verse drama which had probably reached its present form by 1400. The Ordinalia consists of three miracle plays, Origo Mundi, Passio Christi and Resurrexio Domini, meant to be performed on successive days. Such plays were performed in a plain-an-gwarry.[5]
Gallery
edit-
Field at Playing Place, the site of the plain-an-gwarry that gave the village of Playing Place its name. Playing place being the English translation from the Cornish/Kernewek plain-an-gwarry. -
Playing Place plaque that acknowledges the plain-an-gwarry, or playing place, site for which the village was named. It specifically refers to performances about Saint Kea -
The opening verses of Origo Mundi, the first play of the Ordinalia (the magnum opus of mediaeval Cornish literature), written by an unknown monk in the late 14th century
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Beedle, p. 214 https://books.google.com/books?id=ecMHMg3HrCgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=plen&f=false
- ^ Beedle, p. 58.
- ^ Grantley, p. 338. https://books.google.com/books?id=uf50AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA59&dq=%22Plen-an-Gwary%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BA2KVOaCBMXdsASVw4GYBA&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22Plen-an-Gwary%22&f=false
- ^ Beedle, p. 57–58.
- ^ a b c d St Just Plain-an-Gwarry. Historic Cornwall. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
- ^ St Piran's Round. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
- ^ St Piran's Round - map. English Heritage National Monuments. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
- ^ "Heritage Gateway - Results". heritagegateway.org.uk. 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ^ Church Terrier - 1613 - Cornwall Record Office Document ARD/TER/304
Category:Amphitheaters Category:Culture of Cornwall Category:Cornish language