Gulval
| Gulval Cornish: Lannystli | |
| Cornwall | |
|---|---|
 Gulval | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SW484318 |
| Location: | 50°7’57"N, 5°31’18"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Penzance |
| Postcode: | TR18 |
| Dialling code: | 01736 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cornwall |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
St Ives |
Gulval is a village in western Cornwall which, in the expansion of neighbouring Penzance, has become almost a suburb of the town. Gulval remains an ecclesiastical parish of itself, if not a civil parish.
Parts of the parish church date back to the 12th century.
This is a little place. It has a post office and general store, a public house, and a primary school with 144 pupils.
Contents
Saint Gulval
The parish is named after a 6th-century saint, Gulval, the original form of which was probably Welvela or Wolvela. Baring-Gould identified St Gulval with Wilgitha, the sister of St Juthwara. Gilbert Hunter Doble, however, favoured an identification with one of the male Welsh missionaries, Gudwall or Gurwall who are honoured in Brittany. A life of each one has been written, no doubt as reliable as such works on the lives of the saints usually are.[1][2] Neither identification has been widely accepted by modern scholars.
The parish church is dedicated to Gulval and his or her feast is celebrated on 6 June.[3]
Parish Church
The current church building is predominantly 12th century with subsequent additions. Most notable of these are the tower, built in 1440 and containing eight bells, and a large stone lych gate that was added in 1897 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Jubilee.
The graveyard is famously home to the remains of local pirate and smuggler John 'Eyebrows' Thomas of Marazion, as well as to the more repectable William Wingfield, MP. One of the vicars of Gulval, the Rev. William W. Wingfield, was vicar for a remarkable 72 years, from 1839 until his death in 1912.[4]
History
During the Iron Age there was much activity in the area, and a few miles from Gulval, beyond the hamlet of Badgers Cross, are the remains of the Chysauster settlement. The site shows the remnants of nine courtyard houses, of a type only found on the Land's End peninsula and Isles of Scilly, and was inhabited from the first century BC for the following four hundred years. The site is now under the protection of English Heritage.
Two inscribed stones attest to continued occupation in the early mediæval period. The first is a memorial for "Quenatucus, son of Dinvus", and has been dated as carved at some time between fifth and eighth centuries; it stands near one end of a footbridge in Balowena Bottom. The second is a cross-shaft lacking base or cross-head with a now illegible inscription; it was found in a wall of the church in 1885, and now stands in the churchyard.[5]
In ancient times Gulval was known as Lanisley, derived from the Cornish for 'Low Church'.[6] According to Charles Henderson (quoted by Doble (1960)) this is a corruption of Laniskley. A Latinised version, Landicle, is mentioned in the Domesday Book:
- "Roland holds [LANDICLE] from the Bishop; In the time of King Edward it paid tax for 1 hide (around 120 acres); 1½ hides there however. Land for 12 ploughs ; in lordship 1 plough; 3 slaves. 13 villagers and 4 smallholders with 3 ploughs. Meadow 2 acres, Pasture, 2 leagues long and 1 league wide. Value formerly and now £3. 1 virgate (about 30 acres) held by the lord, 1 hide 3 virgates by the villagers; also "1 cob; 3 cows; 30 sheep".[7]
Legends
Ding Dong Mine
Within the bounds of the parish lies the disused Ding Dong Mine, reputedly one of the oldest in Cornwall. Popular local legend, which persists in spite of Reformation, scholarship and all appeals to decency, claims that Joseph of Arimathea visited the mine to trade tin and brought a young Jesus to address the miners.[8]
The Ding Dong Mines have, according to tradition, been worked since Roman times but by the end of the 18th century it was disused. In 1814 it was reopened and worked until 1878. Attempts were made in 1912 and 1928 to reopen it but these failed.[9]
James Payne and the Wilson brothers
Another local legend of old is that of James Payne a local clerk who turned gypsy in the late 18th century and his encounters with a gang called the Woggies.[10]
Sport and recreation
- Cricket: two teams competing in the Penwith area League.
- Football: two teams competing in the Trelawny League
The Old Inn – a public house in Gulval Churchtown – was given to the Coldstream Guards Association in memory of Capt Michael Lempriere Bolitho and renamed "The Coldstreamer" (Capt Bolitho was killed in HMS Walney, a Royal Navy tug; her task was to crash through the boom at the entrance to Oran Harbour in Operation Torch on 8 November 1942).
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Gulval) |
- Cornwall Online Parish Clerks
- Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for Gulval
- The history of the Count House of Ding Dong Mine
References
- ↑ Doble, G. H. (1960) The Saints of Cornwall: part 1. Truro: Dean and Chapter; pp. 61–78
- ↑ Doble, G. H. (1933) Saint Gudwal or Gurwal, bishop and confessor; with notes on Gulval church and parish by Charles Henderson. Truro: Netherton and Worth
- ↑ St Gulval
- ↑ Brown, H. M. (1976) A Century for Cornwall. Truro: Blackford; p. 40
- ↑ See the discussion and bibliography in Elisabeth Okasha, Corpus of early Christian inscribed stones of South-west Britain. Leicester: University Press, 1993, pp. 109–15
- ↑ Gulval on 'West Penwith'
- ↑ Thorn, Caroline & Frank [eds.] "Domesday Book: Cornwall"; Phillimore, Chichester: 1979. ISBN 0-85033-155-2; entry 2,10
- ↑ Matthews, John (ed.) (1991) A Glastonbury Reader: Selections From the Myths, Legends and Stories of Ancient Avalon. London: HarperCollins (reissued by The Aquarian Press)
- ↑ Barton, D. B. (1963) A Guide to the Mines of West Cornwall. Truro: D. Bradford Barton; pp. 9–10
- ↑ Persey, P. (1796) Legends of Olde Weste Cornwall. Plymouth: Anglican Press
