A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN PAUL PARISH

G.M. Trelease’s book detailing the history of Paul Church is now available. 213 illustrated pages cover Paul Church and Parish and also Mousehole, its history and chapels.

Enquiries and mail orders for the book may be made via email at mumzio@hotmail.com The cost of the book is £10 +£2 p+p.

All proceeds from the sale will go to church funds.   

The book may also be obtained at the Kings Arms Pub in Paul.   

 

 

AN EXTRACT OF THE HISTORY OF PAUL CHURCH TAKEN FROM ‘A History of the Church in Paul Parish’ by G. M. Trelease.  Launched 5th November, 2006.

 

The story of Paul Church began with a Celtic icon – a cross.  It would have been erected, way back in the mists of time, high up on a windy ridge over-looking Mount’s Bay.  It was painstakingly carved out of sold granite, decorated with Celtic knotwork, and placed on a mortice stone, with the intention of gathering local people in one central sacred site, to hear the new Christian religion.  However, before Christianity arrived in Penwith, the local people would have worshipped the sun and the beauty of nature around them.  Evidence for sun worship has been found at nearby Kerris Manor.

The cross-head dating from 5-10th Century A.D. set in Paul churchyard wall is carved with the figure of Christ, His arms outstretched to His people.  On the obverse side, five bosses represent His five wounds, reminding all of His sacrifice of love for humanity.  This cross head, was probably knocked from it’s shaft by iconoclasts, during the Civil War.   Tests are being made to ascertain if it would have once been part of the Celtic cross shaft recently discovered in the outer north wall of the east end of the Church.  Thus, this sacred place has had spiritual significance for eons.

The people gathering around the standing cross would have constructed an early shelter from the fearsome winds that sweep this area.  This would have become the first Church.  The building could have simply been constructed of wood with a thatched roof, or maybe there was a more substantial building of local stone, and shaped in a rectangle, such as St. Piran’s Oratory. Unfortunately, early records for Paul Church do not exist; therefore, although the Church was dedicated to a ‘St. Paulinus’ as set out in the Exeter Bishops’ Registers, there is no fixed date for this consecration.  The Village was probably once called ‘Brewinney’, but became known as ‘St. Pawle’ after the Church, and subsequently simply ‘Paul Village’.

After the Norman Conquest many robust stone churches were built across Cornwall. The evidence of stone walling discovered under Paul church floor during renovations proved the Church of 1259 to have been stoutly constructed.  The date 2nd May, 1259 being significant as the date of the institution by Bishop Bronescombe of the first recorded Priest, and Rector of Paul, Roger de Sancto Constantine.  This more substantial Church would have had a blaze of wall painting, decoration and embellishments in the pre-Reformation Catholic tradition.  In 1315 it was reported to have had ‘four newly made altars’ indicating either the possible presence of a transept, or at least a rood screen stretching across from aisle to aisle, separating Nave from Chancel and Sanctuary.  This phrase also indicated that Church building improvements took place at Paul in the 14th Century.

Paul Church came under the Manor of Alverton in the Domesday Book and was therefore owned by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, one of a succession of the Lords of this Manor. Richard constructed an Abby & Convent at Hailes in Gloucester, as a thank offering for his left being spared during a storm at sea. After his death, there was a fire at the Abbey in 1277, and the incumbents were in dire need.  Richard’s son Edmund came to the rescue, re-built the Abbey, and gave the Advowson of Paul Church (together with others) to support the monks.  From that moment on, Hailes Abbey & Convent had the right to appoint all Priests to Paul Church, and did so until the dissolution of the Monasteries, in 1536, when the Patronage of Paul Church reverted to the Crown.

In 1595, as a reprisal for the rout of the Armada, four Spanish galleys made a surprise attack on the area, landing at Mousehole at 8.00 o’clock one foggy morning on 23rd July.  They burnt all houses and farms, except one, of Jenkin Keigwin, in Mousehole (Porthenys).  The soldiers then marched up the hill to the Village of Paul.  There, the Spaniards torched Paul Church after discovering a painted enamelled wooden horse in the Tower.

The Spanish, as devout Catholics, would not be expected to burn a Church – and in fact, spared Penzance St. Mary’s Chapel as Mass had been said that day.   However the whitewashing of wall paintings ordered after the Reformation, the defacing and removal of religious images, plus the presence of what they would have perceived as evidence of Pagan worship, the ornate horse, would have made them feel that they were justified in burning Paul Church.  

The Tower acted as a chimney and the three newly cast bells came crashing down.  The Tower stood defiant after the fire, together with some pieces of the catacleuse pillars, a part of the north-west wall, the south porch and a small piece of south east wall containing the piscina.  The majority of Paul Church was in ruins, but the stalwart Vicar still took a burial service the day after the raid.  There used to be a notice in the Church stating:

‘The Spanyier burnt this Church, in the year 1595- re-built A.D. 1600’

 

[The above extract is the sole property of the author G.M. Trelease and is reproduced here with permission. If you wish to use this information please email the author at mumzio@hotmail.com to obtain permission first]

 

This short passage just touches on Paul Church History, a taster! Please do come and see our lovely Church for yourself!  For more information on the following families, please see the new Church History mentioned above:

 

ALDERTON, BARNES, BATTEN, BEADEN, BENNETTS, BOASE, BOLITHO, BOSON, CARNE, CARPENTER, CARVOSSO, CATTRAN, CHIRGWIN, DAVEY, DAVY, DREW, FOSTER, FRANCIS, GEORGE, GLASSON, GRUZELIER, GURNEY, HARRY, HARVEY, HITCHENS HOARE, HOSKEN, HOSKINS, HUTCHENS, KEIGWIN, KNEEBONE, LADNER, LEAH, LE GRICE,LUGG, MARRACK, MATTHEWS, McCLARY, NICHOLLS, OSBORNE, PENTREATH, PEZZACK, POLGLAZE, POLGREAN, POLGREEN, POLLARD, PRICE, PROWSE, RHODDA, ROBYNS, ROUFFIGNAC, ROWE, SIMONS, SPARGO, SPARROW, SULLIVAN, TIPPETT, TONKIN, TRELEASE, TRENOWETH, WILLIAMS,

 

and many more!