History
Cornwall For Ever
Situated on the banks of the Tamar, Landulph and the other Tamar Valley parishes are the most easterly in Cornwall. Cornwall is a land separated from the rest of England both physically and culturally — a land with its own unique identity, history, language, heritage, and customs.
The original inhabitants of this land were the Ancient Britons, part of the wider Celtic world. The area covered by today’s Cornwall and Devon, with parts of Somerset and Dorset, formed the kingdom of Dumnonia. The land west of the Tamar (today’s Cornwall) was known as Cornubia, inhabited by the Cornovii tribe, a subgroup of the Dumnonii.
Christianity came to Cornwall around the 5th and 6th centuries AD, brought by missionaries from Wales, Ireland, and Brittany. They left their mark on Cornwall — “The Land of Saints” — where many places still carry their names. Landulph is one such place, named after the holy site or enclosure (Lan in Cornish) of the Celtic St. Dilpe, where Landulph Church still stands today, some 1,500 years later.
Cornwall is a land of stories and legends; many associated with the saints. The story of Cornwall’s patron, St Piran, tells that he was chained to a granite millstone by an angry heathen mob in his native Ireland and thrown off a cliff into the sea. He floated on the stone to Cornwall, landing at Perranporth, where his first followers were said to be a fox, a badger, and a boar. His banner became the Cornish flag we have today — a white cross on a black background — symbolising good over evil, as well as molten tin flowing from the black ore.
Other local place names surviving from Celtic times include Penyoke (Pen meaning headland) and Cargreen (Carrecron, meaning Seal’s Rock) in Landulph. Landrake also includes the word Lan for a church site or enclosure. Trematon contains the Cornish word Tre, meaning farmstead, town, or village. St. Dominick, St. Mellion, St. Erney, and St. Budeaux (now part of Plymouth) take their names from Celtic saints. There was also a Celtic monastery at St. Germans.
Later, the Anglo-Saxons gradually conquered Devon and fought with the Cornish and Vikings on Hingston Down near Callington. This led to more Anglo-Saxon integration into East Cornwall. However, in 927 AD the Saxon King Athelstan fixed the east bank of the Tamar as the border between Wessex and Cornwall.
The Norman invasion of 1066 brought further change, with the followers of William I given titles, lands, and estates. Robert de Mortain became the first Earl of Cornwall, with castles built at Trematon, Launceston, and Restormel to help keep order over the native Cornish people and other potential invaders.
In 1337 Edward the Black Prince became the first Duke of Cornwall, and the Duchy of Cornwall was created.
During the English Civil War Cornwall was fiercely Royalist, while Plymouth was Parliamentarian. The Tamar was fought over many times at Saltash, and cannon balls — possibly from that period — were found at the Landulph Rectory. Like many Cornish churches, Landulph displays a transcript of King Charles I’s letter of thanks to the people of Cornwall in 1643.
We now live in a world of fast technological change, but many of us remain proud of our roots in Cornwall, which to us is still a “Land Apart” — uniquely different from the rest of England.
Despite this, the county faces many challenges, particularly for young people seeking good jobs and housing. These must be overcome, both to help them and to secure the future of Cornwall.
So let us keep our young people in mind as we give thanks for this parish, for Cornwall, and for all that it means to us.
We are fortunate to live in a county of outstanding beauty, with its own heritage, culture, history, language and identity:
- A place of beauty, of green fields, rivers and valleys.
- A place of rugged coasts and wild, windswept moorland.
- A place of ancient towns and villages bearing names from the saints of old.
- A place of ancient churches, engine houses, and fishing ports.
- A place of stories, legend, and song.
- A place of community for all who love Cornwall.
- A place which reaches the soul and we are blessed to call home.
KERNOW BYS VYKEN – CORNWALL FOR EVER!
© Andrew Barrett, December 2025, All rights reserved
This article is protected by copyright - please contact editor@landulph.org.uk if you want to use it.
