Human activity in the parish continued and intensified in the Middle Ages. A revolt against the Anglo-Saxon English in 931 AD by the Cornish Celts (supported by the Danes) led to a battle southeast of the village at Boleigh where a farm and hamlet now stands. The Saxon king Athelstan crushed the resistance, before continuing on to conquer the Isles of Scilly. A local story tells of ancient armour being ploughed up in the nearby fields at Gul Reeve (a corruption of the Cornish "Gwel Ruth", meaning red field). The establishment of a church and monastery in the village by Athelstan (see Religion) contributed to the rising importance of the parish. This was not without problems, and in 1328 St Buryan was excommunicated from the church over a row about control of the religious matters in the parish. It was not reinstated for another eight years.