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The mystery of Gulval, Gudwal or Wolvela
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We know nothing for certain of the life, origin, dates or even the sex of the patron saint from whom this village on the outskirts of Penzance takes its name.

The village was formerly called St Gulval after the church, but the saintly prefix was dropped around the beginning of the 17th century. Oliver Padel, in his dictionary of Cornish Place-Names (1988), mentions that the church town had a Cornish name recorded as Landicle in the 1086 Domesday survey, Lanestli in 1261, Lanystly in 1328 and finally Lanisley in 1888. Prof Padel has found Latin references to the patron saint (obviously considered female) as Sancta Welveda (1302), Welvela in 1328 and Gwelvela alias Wolvela in 1413; by 1522 it had become Gulvall, close to the modern spelling. He comments that "the earliest spelling of her name with D is corrupt, and the original Cornish name was probably Gwelvel ... evidently believed to be feminine, but nothing is known of her, and she may be the [male] Breton Gudwal."

Peter Berresford Ellis, in his booklet on The Cornish Saints (1992), points out that "Latin usage mutates [initial] Gw- and Gu- to W- and so we have the name Wolvela ... In this form the name is feminine, and in the pariosh there is Bosulval [Wolvela's abode] which might signify her original foundation."

Other authorities have stated that Gulval or Gudwal was a 6th-century Welsh [male] bishop, who is known to have visited Cornwall and was eventually buried at Montreuil-sur-Mer near Calais until his relics were translated to Ghent in the mid-10th century. Yet another candidate is Gurval, an Irish monk and disciple of Brendan, who was bishop of St Malo in the 7th century.

The church of Gulval dates from the 13th century onwards, with the granite west tower being completed in 1440. It was however completely restored in 1892 by James Piers St Aubyn, giving the building a predominantly late Victorian appearance. St Gulval's (or whoever) is listed Grade II*.