Paul, Cornwall

Description
Paul, a parish in Cornwall, on Mounts Bay, 2 1/2 miles S of Penzance station on the G.W.R. It has a post office under Penzance ; money order and telegraph office, Newlyn. It took its name from Pol de Leon, a Brittany saint; suffered devastation from the Spaniards in 1593; and contains the villages of Monsehole and Newlyn. Acreage, 3442; population of the civil parish, 5977; of the ecclesiastical, 2639. Paul is an urban district whose boundaries are conterminous with those of the civil parish, and has its own district council, insisting of nine members. Paul Hill rises with steep ascent, and commands a charming view. There are several ancient granite crosses, and some remains of an ancient British camp. Pilchard and mackerel fisheries are carried on. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Truro; net value, £310 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church was given by Richard, king of the Romans, to Hailes Abbey; has a fine granite tower, serving as a conspicuous landmark; contains monuments of the Godolphins, the Pendarveses, and others; and has been restored. The churchyard contains the grave and monument of Dolly Penbreath, who died at the age of ninety-one in 1777, and is said to have been the last person who used ancient Cornish as a language. Fragmentary Cornish is still known. The vicarage of Newlyn is a separate benefice. There are Wesleyan and Methodist chapels and some almshouses.