Kelly’s Directory of Cornwall 1883

ST. PAUL, or Paul, is a parish, 2½ miles south from Penzance, in the Western division of the county, Penwith hundred, Penzance union and county court district, rural deanery of Penwith, archdeaconry of Cornwall and diocese of Truro; it is situated on the coast of Mounts Bay. The church of St. Paul is an ancient building of granite in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and an embattled tower with turret, and contains 3 bells. The register records that “The Spanyer burnt this church in the year 1595:”: a small portion of the old church is still standing, and bears traces of the fire: Fixed in the churchyard wall is a monument, erected by Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte and the late Rev. John Garrett, vicar in 1860, to the memory of Dorothy Pentreath, who died in 1778, and who was supposed to be the last person who spoke the ancient Cornish, the peculiar language of this county: there is also affixed to the wall the quatrefoiled head of a cross, with a figure of the Crucifixion. The register dates from the year 1595. the regsiter[s] previous to this date are said to have been destroyed by the Spaniards, when they set fire to the church. The living is a vicarage, yearly value from tithe rent-charge £512, net income £430 with residence and 3 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and held since 1876 by the Rev. Robert Wesley Aitken, of St. Bees. A cemetery of 1¼ acres was formed in 1879, at a cost of £700, and is under the control of a Burial Board of nine members, Henry Maddern, clerk. There are charities of £5 yearly value. There is also an almshouse, founded by Capt. Hutchens in 1760, and endowed with landed property producing about £135 yearly, for the maintenance of six old men and six old women, who must have been born in the parish of St. Paul. Trewoofe is a romantic valley which terminates at Lamorna Cove; on this estate are the remains of a triple entrenchment, with a subterranean passage, which is said to have afforded concealment to a party of Royalists, who thus escaped the forces of Sir Thomas Fairfax. There is also a fine chalybeate spring; on St. Paul down stands an ancient cross six feet high. Thomas Bedford Bolitho and Charles Day Nicholls Le Grice esqrs. Sir John St. Aubyn bart. M.P. and Miss Carne, of Penzance, are chief landowners. The soil is rich loam; the subsoil is killas and granite. The chief crops are early potatoes and brocoli. The area is 3,433 acres; rateable value, £11,866 and the population in 1881 was 6,005.

Mousehole is a large and important fishing village in this parish, half a mile south of the church town, and 3 miles from Penzance. There is an excellent granite pier, erected in 1870–71 by Messrs. Freeman and Sons, at a cost of about £5,000, and forming a perfectly sheltered harbour for fishing craft. There is a coast-guard station, with a master and seven men. Here is a chapel for Wesleyans and one for Bible Christians.

Parish Clerk, Thomas Edmonds Wallis.

Post Office, (Paul).—Mrs. Jane Osborne, receiver. Letters arrive from Penzance at 6.55 a.m. & 10.50 p.m.[?]; dispatched at 1.5 & 6.58 p.m.; Newlyn is the nearest money order & telegraph office

Post Office, (Mousehole).—Miss Elizabeth Trembath, receiver. Letters arrive at 10.25 a.m. & 5.10 p.m.; dispatched at 1.35 & 6.25 p.m

Insurance Agents.— Lancashire, J. Stone, St. Paul; & W. H. Craddock, Mousehole

A School Board of 9 members was formed in 1875; Madron with one member being contributory; J. Stone, Penzance, clerk to the board

A Board School now (1883) in course of erection, at an estimated cost of £800

Board School, William Henry Barrett, master

Wesleyan, Mousehole (mixed), supported by voluntary contributions, school fees & a Government grant; Martin Wright, master