author
Thomas Taylor
1858–1938
Best known for bringing Cornwall’s early Christian past to life, this Anglican priest and historian wrote with a deep affection for local tradition and landscape. His work helped preserve stories, saints, and church history that might otherwise have faded from view.
1 Audiobook
The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall: Divers Sketches and Studies
by Thomas Taylor
About the author
Born in Derbyshire in 1858, he was educated at King Edward VI School, Macclesfield, and at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics. He was ordained in the Church of England in the 1880s and later became vicar of St Just in Penwith, a post he held for many years.
Alongside parish work, he built a reputation as a historian and scholar of Celtic culture, especially the religious history of Cornwall. His books include The Saints of St. Austell and The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall, works that reflect his lasting interest in local churches, early saints, and the region’s distinctive past.
He died in 1938, but his writing still appeals to readers interested in Cornwall, antiquarian history, and the ways faith and place shape one another. His work has an old-fashioned, careful quality that makes it valuable both as scholarship and as a record of local memory.