St Pol-de-Leon Churchyard in Paul, Cornwall

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Get directions Mousehole Lane
Paul, Cornwall Unitary Authority, Cornwall TR19 6UA England

Coordinates: 50.08948, -5.54607
Cemetery ID: 2331098

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St Pol-de-Leon Church
Mousehole Lane
Paul
Penzance TR19 6UA
Cornwall

The oldest headstone around the church is dated 1751 and although we are aware that there are older burials the headstones are either too worn to be legible or no longer exist. There is also a possibility that there was no headstone erected at the time or the person was buried within the church.
In 1880 a Burial Act was passed and the practice of burying people inside churches came to an end. Prior to this people were willing to pay for intramural burial, especially when the interment was in favoured positions near the altar. Underneath the altar in the sanctuary was the most holy and important place, usually only reserved for former Clergy or the Gentry. In Paul Church at least eight people are buried in the sanctuary or area of the high altar.
There are also several family vaults/crypts (Godolphin, Keigwin, Langford, Marracks, Price, Rowe to name but a few) under the church and it is estimated that there are innumerable individual burials. According to the church burial register of 1780 there were 55 burials which would indicate that under the floor was a very crowded place!
The danger of infection from fumes emanating from tombs or vaults beneath the floor in churches could be a serious problem, leading to outbreaks of infectious disease. It was for this reason that intramural burial was outlawed by the 1880 Burial Act; this Act also allowed burials to take place in churchyards for the first time, without the rites of the church of England.
(Source: The History of the Church in Paul Parish by G.M. Trelease)