| Paul Church
in Penwith Deanery
SW464271
Paul Church is set high up on a ridge
overlooking Mount’s Bay, the tower was
built early in the 15th Century and
is one of the tallest in Cornwall, measuring
eighty-nine feet, with a beacon turret
of twenty feet totalling one hundred
and nine feet in all. It was possibly
sited to act as a ‘sea-mark’ for shipping,
to replace an earlier chapel acting
the same in Mousehole.
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The beacon turret
enabled fires or beacons to be lit,
thus warning of invasion, which carried
on across England to other beacons,
and is reputed to be able to reach London
within twenty minutes.
The tower is
constructed with double buttresses in
three stages of massive moorland granite
stones ascending to the turret.
For
the sharp eyed- there is a medieval
‘sheela-na-gig’ depicted jutting out
on three corners of the tower Paul is
the only church in West Cornwall to
have such a grotesque.
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Paul Parish Church
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There are some Norman foundations
under the present floor, indicating
an earlier church however, today’s church,
was constructed, apart from a few early
parts in the west end north aisle, after
1600. In July, 1595 four Spanish
galleons sailed out of the fog and landed
at Mousehole harbour. The Spaniards
raided and burnt most of Mousehole and
made there way up to Paul Village where
they burnt more houses, the vicarage
and the church. All that was left
was the tower, (the bells and frame were
destroyed), the south porch, and a small
part of the western end of the church.
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 Memorial to
Dolly Pentreath
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Since the Spanish raid there have
been so many refurbishments, mainly
due to storm damage. There have been
renewals of the roof, flooring and furniture
of the church producing a church that
has changed far more than others in
Penwith. There is a magnificent
Tudor door in the south porch, which
also escaped the fire. This is
carved in dark catacleuse stone, and
possesses some early graffiti. There is some conjecture as to which
St. Paul, the church is dedicated –
some historians say, St. Paulinus of
York, some say St. Paul Aurelian, and
yet others the apostle St. Paul. There
is no real evidence to prove which is
the correct Saint, however Feast week
is celebrated on the Sunday nearest
10th October.
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| Paul Church is light, airy and spacious,
it has some interesting memorials, and
a recently discovered Celtic cross shaft
in its north wall. Tests are ongoing
to see if the cross shaft was that of
the large Celtic cross head set into
the churchyard wall. The memorial to
Dolly Pentreath is very interesting,
an inhabitant of Mousehole, she was
reputed to be the last person to speak
Cornish. Her memorial is set into the
south churchyard wall.
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Celtic Cross Shaft
North Wall
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Paul Church is very friendly with
a good choir, bellringers, and services
to suit all tastes from Matins, Evensong,
and Parish Communion, to the once a
month Family Service. All morning
Services commence at 10.00 a.m. Evening
Service – 6.00 p.m. Early (BCP) Holy
Communion –8.30.a.m.
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Information
on Paul Church & Photograph of
Celtic Cross
G. M. Trelease (Jill Hogben) Paul Church Historian |
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History
of the Church in Paul
Parish
by G.M. Trelease
This
new history book is a concise chronicle
of the Church in Paul Parish, including
the early Anglican Chapels of Mousehole
and some history of the later Methodist
chapels. The 'Manors of Paul'
and the 'Geology' of the area are also
discussed.
Launched on 5th November,
2006, this
book is available at the Kings Arms
Paul and the Village Shop in Paul price
£10. It may be obtained from the Paul
Church website www.paulchurch.co.uk
or from mumzio@hotmail.com price £10 + £2 p&p,
UK only. Orders from outside the UK,
postal charges can be supplied on request..
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THE
CORNISHMAN - 2nd November 2006
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A
NEW CHURCH HISTORY FOR PAUL &
THE PARISH
A
Book Launch on Sunday 5th November, heralds
the arrival of a new comprehensive book
‘The History of the Church in the Paul Parish’,
by G. M. Trelease. As the title hints,
this book also covers the early Anglican
Chapels of Mousehole, and the Methodist
Chapels, being in Paul Parish. The author
also wrote the ‘History of Broadclyst Church’
in Devon (1999).
Jill
came to Newlyn and Paul Church in June 2000,
and discovered to her amazement that many
of her forebears had been married, and christened
in Paul Church. Although she was born
in Kent, Jill is half Cornish, her Father,
William Henry Trelease was born in Redruth
in 1907, and was a Truro Cathedral Chorister;
carrying on the Church music tradition,
Jill is a member of Paul Church Choir.
Jill
was asked to be part of a team to re-vamp
the short Church History of Paul, and went
off to do some research. She found
lots of really interesting information,
and thus asked permission to write a longer,
more detailed book. This new publication
is the result, all the proceeds of which
will go towards the provision of a new organ,
and to church funds in equal portions.
Whilst
researching Jill, (and fellow historian
Aidan Hicks) stumbled on a Celtic Cross
Shaft embedded in the outer north wall of
Paul Church at the east end. ‘This
is one of the best discoveries of a pre-conquest
(celtic) cross shaft in Penwith for at least
seventy-five years’ states Andrew Langdon,
well-known authority on Cornish Celtic Crosses.
How this had been missed over the
years seems very strange, but Jill adds
that it was hard to see, being heavily covered
with lichen and over-enthusiastic cement
pointing.
The
Revd., Gordon Hansford, Vicar of Paul has
this to say about the book:
There
have been several previous histories of
Paul Church and Paul Parish. Each
has its merits and has added to our knowledge
and understanding of the development of
the Church in this part of West Cornwall.
However, a cursory glance at the bibliography
at the end of this book will show that none
has been as thorough or comprehensive as
this current work. In writing this
book, Jill has researched a wide range of
records, historical documents, newspaper
accounts, P.C.C. Minutes, etc., to produce
the most comprehensive and thorough History
of the Church in Paul Parish that has been
written to date’.
The
book will be on sale in the Kings Arms public
house in Paul, in the Church after services,
in Paul Village Shop & Post Office and
also on the excellent Church website (magazine
section) www.paulchurch.co.uk.
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Author
& Cross Shaft
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Paul
Parish Church Website
Its
refreshing to find a church that has
embraced the technology of the web.
The web site comprehensively covers all
aspects of church life. A
must to visit before visiting the church
itself. There is much more to discover
about Paul Parish Church than this one
page can cover and this website is the
place to find it.
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