PADSTOW, a seaport and market town in the St. Austell parliamentary division of Cornwall, England, on the S.R. Pop. of urban district (1931) 1,929. Padstow (known as Aldestowe in 1273, Patrikstowe in 1326, Patrestowe in 1346) and St. Ives are the only two tolerably safe harbours on the north coast of Cornwall. To this circumstance they both owed their selection for early settlement and the Padstow region (especially Harlyn Bay) is full of prehistoric associations. St. Petrock, called the patron saint of Cornwall, is said to have landed here and also to have died here in the 6th century. Padstow is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey. It was included in the bishop of Exeter's manor of Pawton, annexed to the see of Crediton. Until the Danes plundered Padstow (981), it is said to have possessed a monastery, which thereupon was transferred to Bodmin. Two manors of Padstow are mentioned later—the prior of Bodmin's manor, including the rectory, and a manor which passed from the Bonvilles to the Greys, marquesses of Dorset ; both were eventually acquired by the family of Prideaux. Padstow appears to have been a port of considerable repute in the 14th century. In 1580 Norden describes it as an incorporation and market town. Carew in 16o2 states that it had lately purchased a cor poration and derived great profit from its trade with Ireland. No traces of a charter have been found. A prescriptive market is held on Saturdays; two fairs of like nature have disappeared.
It lies near the north coast, on the west shore, and 2 m. from the mouth of the estuary of the river Camel. The church of St. Petrock, with a massive roodstone in the churchyard, is mainly Perpendicular, with an Early English tower. Within are an ancient font, a canopied piscina and a timber roof over the nave and aisles. The church of St. Enodock, erected in the 15th century amid dunes bordering the east shore of the estuary, in place of a more ancient oratory, was long buried beneath drifts of sand, and from a little distance only the spire can be seen. A Norman font remains from the older foundation. A monastery formerly standing on the high ground west of Padstow was founded by St. Petrock in the 6th and razed by the Danes in the loth cen tury. Pentine Point shelters Padstow bay on the north-east, but the approach to the estuary is dangerous during north westerly gales. Padstow is a harbour of refuge, although the river channel is narrow and much silted. Dredging is carried on, and the sand, which is rich in carbonate of lime, is used as manure. The Padstow Harbour association (1829) is devoted to the rescue of ships in distress, making no claims for salvage beyond the sums necessary for its maintenance. Padstow has fisheries and shipyards and some agricultural trade. It imports coal, iron and timber for slates and kaolin.