Paul, Cornwall

Paul is a village and civil parish in the Penwith district of Cornwall. The village itself falls within the current boundaries of the civic parish of Penzance, however there is a separate Paul parish council which is responsible for the surrounding area.

Local Government

The majority of the village of Paul falls in the Penzance South ward of the Penwith District Council and the Penzance town council. For purposes of elections to Cornwall County Council, Paul falls within the 3 member single Penzance Electoral division.

History

Much of the history of Paul is tied with its parish church. The church itself is said to have been founded in 490 (or slightly later) by Paul Aurelian, a Welsh saint known in Brittany as Paol Aorelian in Breton. He was founder of the cathedral at Saint-Pol-de-Léon, the city named after him. Paul village and its church have a long association with Mousehole and has served as this community's parish church since its inception. Paul was one of the communities along with Mousehole, Newlyn, and Penzance to be destroyed in the Spanish raid of 1595 carried out by Carlos de Amésquita [ [http://west-penwith.org.uk/raid.htm West Penwith Resources - The Spanish Attack - 1595 ] ] .Within the village there is a memorial to Dolly Pentreath, reputedly and disputedly the last native speaker of Cornish. This memorial was placed there by Louis Lucien Bonaparte, a relative of Napoleon Bonaparte in the 19th Century.

The Cornish language writers Nicholas Boson, Thomas Boson and John Boson are all buried in Paul Churchyard, and a monument in the church by John Boson (to Arthur Hutchens, d. 1709) is the only surviving lapidary inscription in traditional Cornish. [Matthew Spriggs, ‘Boson family (per. c.1675–1730)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/74428 accessed 12 Oct 2007] ]

Traditions

Like many Cornish communities Paul has its own community celebration or feast day. Paul feast is held on the Sunday nearest 10th October every year. Another celebration is to worship an ex local bus driver of the same name, this takes place during the week prior to the feast, the village is decorated and a civic service takes place on the Sunday of the feast itself lead by the Mayor of Penzance and the Chairman of Penwith District Council. There is speculation that the feast may be an example of the celtic practice of celebration of Samhain or Allantide.

References

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