St Sampson's Inscribed Memorial Stone 

The area in which St Sampson’s church stands may have been one of the earliest centres of Christian worship in Cornwall.
In the churchyard is an inscribed stone, containing a chi rho symbol and inscription, dating from the sixth to eighth century.  It was discovered in a wall near the church in 1876 and re-erected in the churchyard in 1891. 
Archaeologists consider that such inscribed stones were put in important religious places.


                       






The Chi Rho is a Christian symbol for “Christ” written by superimposing the two Greek letters “Chi (X)” and “Rho (P)” which are the first two letters in Greek of the name of “CHRist.” The first public use of the Chi Rho symbol was on the labarum, the shield of Constantine’s warriors in the Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 28, 213 AD.