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Parish Church of:
Paul
The church of St. Paul is an ancient building of granite in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch , and an embattled western tower with turret containing 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: between the nave and north aisle, at a height of about three feet, is a small arched opening perhaps originally a hagioscope; fixed in the churchyard wall is a monument with inscription in English and Cornish, erected in 1860 by Prince Louis Lucian Bonaparte and the late Rev. John Garrett, vicar, to the memory of Dorothy Pentreath, who died in 1778, aged 102, and who was supposed to be the last person who spoke the ancient Cornish, the peculiar language of this county: affixed to the wall is also a quatrefoiled head of a cross, with a figure of the "Crucifixion": there is a stained window in each aisle: among
numerous tablets is one in the south aisle to Capt. Stephen Hutchens, who died at Jamaica in 1709, with an epitaph in old Cornish, the only one now extant: in the north aisle is the tomb of William Godolphin of Trewarveneth, ob. 1689, above which hangs a sword, helmet and other armour: the church was new-roofed in 1892 and further restoration is now (1893) in progress: there are 850 sittings. The register dates from the the year 1595; the registers previous to this date are said to have been destroyed by the Spaniards, when they set fire to the church.
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