Folklore says Jesus sailed to Cornwall and set foot in home of …
Legend has it that Jesus once travelled to Cornwall. It has been muttered that he travelled as a young man with his uncle, a tin trader, in the early days of Cornish mining – to the place where ‘the most beautiful churchyard on Earth’ is located.
It is reputed that Jesus visited Cornwall on occasion, including visits to Penzance, Falmouth and St Just in Roseland. He’s also said to have visited Glastonbury in Somerset – an area famed for its particular legends about Jesus.
But tales of folklore have also been written off as nothing but myth – with no real evidence of him ever having set foot here. Here we take a look at why people believe Jesus has visited Cornwall and if it could be possible.
Historic Cornwall says it is quite confident that Jesus visiting Cornwall was possible. In a blog post, it states: “The Virgin Mary’s father (also known as Jesus’ Uncle) was Joseph of Arimathea, the younger brother of Mary. At that time, the vast majority of the world’s tin, as well as a variety of minerals, was exported from Cornwall. Joseph would have had to travel to Cornwall for tin and possibly minerals, as this would have been his primary source of income.
“Joseph could have worked as a carpenter in the house of Joseph of Arimathea. When working in the tin trade in the early days of Cornish tin mining, they would chant “Joseph was in the trade.” It’s possible that the story of Jesus stepping on the beach at St Just in Roseland is true.”
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It is the case that people from the eastern Mediterranean had visited Cornwall to trade for tin for at least 1,000 years by the time Jesus was born. Phoenicians used Cornish tin, and archaeological finds from the Mediterranean can be traced back to Ding Dong mine near Penzance showing it is possible. Ding Dong is also said to have supplied ore used to build King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.
Glyn S. Lewis, author of Did Jesus Come To Britain?, has concluded after a lifetime of research that Christ did come to British shores twice – to visit both Cornwall and Somerset. Some ancient texts suggest that Joseph was an uncle of the Virgin Mary and made his fortune as a merchant dealing in metals, reports the Mail Online.[3]
It is this that is said to have taken him to Cornwall for Europe’s best source of tin. It has also been said that the ship carrying the teenage Jesus took refuge in a cove, near to the church of St Just in Roseland on the southern Cornish coast – where ‘the most beautiful churchyard on Earth’ is located.
References
- ^ Geevor Tin Mine’s last days in the words of former Cornwall miners (www.cornwalllive.com)
- ^ here (www.cornwalllive.com)
- ^ reports the Mail Online. (www.dailymail.co.uk)